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LETTERS OF
JOHN MASON NEALE

D.D.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY HIS DAUGHTER

WITH PORTRAIT

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NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

1910

JUH 2 1

PREFACE

IT was hoped that many of the letters in this volume would
have had a place in Mrs. Charles Towle's " Memoir of John
Mason Neale," published three years ago ; but the author
found that the limitations of one volume forbade their
inclusion, and it was then suggested that, if the book met
with a favourable reception, it might be followed by a
supplementary volume of letters. This idea has met with
the warm approval of many of Dr. Neale's old friends and
admirers, who, whilst charmed with the " Memoir," have
regretted that the subject of it should not oftener speak for
himself. Encouraged by this approval, his daughters, whilst
conscious of their lack of literary skill, and of the difficulty
of selection from so large a number of letters written upon
such a variety of subjects, are emboldened to try and com
plete in some measure the portrait of their father's character,
the outline of which has been drawn by the graceful pen of
Mrs. Towle.

It will be seen that the majority of the letters are written
to the same correspondent, Benjamin Webb, who was at
Trinity with John Mason Neale, and was co-founder with
him and Edward Jacob Boyce and others, of the Cambridge
Camden (afterwards Ecclesiological) Society. This corre
spondence, begun in Cambridge days, continued almost daily
for a great many years — years which include the memorable
1845, when Newman's secession had shaken severely, and,
as many thought, fatally, the Catholic revival in the Church
of England. The letters shewing the sad tale of daily
secession, and consequent loss of friends, are intensely
interesting, and though it may be said that more than
enough has already been published on the ancient history

vi PREFACE

of the Oxford Movement, yet these letters, telling of Cam
bridge losses and Cambridge steadfastness of faith, may per
haps strike with fresh interest those who are accustomed to
associate the Catholic revival with Oxford, and Oxford only.

Some of Mr. Webb's letters are, by the permission of
his family, included. The correspondence shews how strong
was J. M. Neale's faith in the Church of his baptism, how
invincible his hope in her restoration — a faith and hope
daily increased by his study of Church history, and perhaps
by his growing experience of the Roman Church of the
day. It is probable that, accustomed as he was to attend
her services regularly and devoutly during the three winters
he spent in Madeira, he knew, better than many of his
friends in England, both her strength and her weakness.
He seems to have felt all through his life that to the
Church of England, attacked as she was not only from all
sides but also from within, had been entrusted the most
difficult, and therefore the most honourable, post in the
battlefield of the Catholic Church Militant. Seceders,
therefore, he speaks of severely as deserters ; secession as
sin ; and many a weak and wavering combatant was
strengthened and kept steadfast by his faith and his firm
antagonism to Rome.1

" We may be sure of this : if England ever becomes a
Catholic country, it will be by the Church of England, not
by that of Rome." So he writes in a sermon on Secession ;
and again, " England's Church is Catholic, though Eng
land's self be not."

It is well to insist upon this, because his hatred of
Protestantism may be misleading to the superficial reader
of his books. In his letters the word "catholic" is used
for all that is beautiful and venerable ; " protestant," for
all that is mean and unworthy. Thus he stigmatizes, some
what quaintly, the undignified behaviour of some Portuguese
nuns as " protestant," whilst a beautiful oak wood is
described as " catholic."

Yet this dislike of Protestantism was compatible with a

1 See also " Secession " in " Sermons preached in a Religious
House," vol. i.

PREFACE vn

very friendly intercourse with Nonconformists. Thus some
of the principal members of his Carol choir were un
doubtedly Nonconformists, one of whom, in speaking of
the Low Church vicar of the parish, said, " If I were a
Churchman at all, I would rather be Mr. Neale's sort than
his : " strong praise in a place and at a time when prejudice
was strong, and " No Popery " a very frequent cry. And,
as has been very truly said, " His charity knew no distinc
tion of creeds." Amongst the earliest recipients of his aid
at East Grinstead was an Independent minister, whom he
frequently visited and -cheered during a lingering illness.
Another, a Presbyterian, used frequently to resort to him
for the loan of books, and for conversation on topics of
interest. This minister had the courage to stand forth as
his defender in a Dissenting paper in 1857, the time of his
greatest unpopularity. Nor in his conversation with Non
conformists is it likely that controversial subjects were
uppermost, for in his directions to the Sisters of S. Mar
garet's he says, " You who have to do with the poor, this I
would always advise you : talk as little of doctrinal points
as you can." And, after mentioning one of his exceptions
to this rule, he adds, " Not even that in the last stage of
disease ; then speak only of our dear LORD, and leave the
rest to Him, who is so infinitely more merciful to us than
we are to each other."

In reading his letters it must ever be borne in mind that
they were written to a very intimate friend, are expressed
strongly, sometimes impulsively, and without any view
to publication. John Mason Neale was not a " polite "
letter writer, and his apology for Froude's letters (see p. 20)
gives the aspect in which his own should be regarded, and
the way in which his judgments are to be interpreted. The
outspoken nature of some of these can hurt no one's feel
ings now, for sixty years and more have passed away ; and
to alter, omit, or soften down, anything that may seem harsh,
would be spoiling the truth of the portrait. And as regards
style, it will be noticed that the orthography of certain
words, such as « pue," " catholick," " heretick ," etc., is not
consistent throughout, sometimes the older, sometimes the

a 2

viii PREFACE

more modern, form being given. The variation seems to
mark a transitional period

Keeping in mind the versatility of Dr. Neale's gifts, and
the multiplicity of his interests, I have thought it well to
include in this volume letters bearing upon subjects very
widely removed from each other, but on each of which he
writes with as much earnestness and acumen as if it were the
one object of his work. It may be that too much space has
been devoted to some of these subjects, too little to others.
Where there are so many to choose from it is difficult to
keep a right balance. In making a selection the fact was
kept in mind, that, whilst the study of architecture and
ecclesiology has made immense strides since the early Cam
bridge Camden days, yet the efforts of the Society should
never be forgotten. The good seed sown by its members
has borne such vigorous and manifold fruit, that nearly
every English county, either singly or combined with others,
has now its local Archaeological and Antiquarian Society,
whose " Transactions " witness to the energy of the many
workers who are pressing into the fields to which Dr. Neale
shewed the way. And though countless beautiful and
valuable volumes have been issued since his time, dealing
with the architecture of the cathedrals and churches, both
at home and abroad, yet nothing has superseded, for the
practical student, the usefulness of the carefully prepared
and exhaustive scheme for " taking " churches, set forth by
the C.C.S., and reprinted in Appendix III. of Mrs. Towle's
" Memoir."

Similarly in Liturgiology, his sound and valuable pioneer
work will ever be held in honour by all who care for this
fascinating study. His soul would rejoice to witness the
outcome of those endeavours, as evidenced by the existence
and prosperity of the many ecclesiological societies of the
present day. The arrangements adopted by him for the
worship in Sackville College Chapel, which seemed to
people of his day fanciful and excessive, are now generally
considered the minimum equipments required by decency
in every ordinary village church in the land. In these, as
well as in his two greatest literary works, the " History of

PREFACE IX

the Holy Eastern Church " and the " Commentary on the
Psalms," both unfinished at the time of his death, his labours
may be regarded as pioneer work ; these studies having
indeed progressed during the last forty-three years.

But, — setting aside for the 'moment that abiding and
visible monument of him, the Sisterhood of S. Margaret's, —
there remain two provinces in which his influence is pre
eminent amongst that exerted by any of the leaders of the
Catholic Revival — two branches of literary church work in
which he is not yet superseded ; these are, Hymnology, and
the teaching of Church History and Doctrine to Children
by means of " truth embodied in a tale." Hence, as regards
the first, a great many letters are given on hymns, and
especially on the method pursued in the production of the
" Hymnal Noted."

Dr. Boyd (better known as A.K.H.B.), in his essay on
the Hymnology of the Scottish Kirk, describes meeting on
a steamer on a Highland river a friend, who, in the " pai:
of conversation," was turning over the leaves of a book in a
" supercilious skipping fashion," and " jauntily scribbling "
here and there with a pencil. " On being asked what he
was doing, he stated that he was a member of the Hymn
Committee of that day ; and that here was a proof of a pro
posed Hymnal which was sent to each member to receive
his emendations. He was beguiling his time, sailing down
the river, by improving the hymns. In this easy manner
did he scribble whatever alterations might casually sug
gest themselves, upon the best compositions of the best
hymn writers."

Not in this fashion did the " Hymnal Noted " Com
mittee set to work, as many of the letters in this volume
shew ; and in the preface to the second edition of his
"Mediaeval Hymns " Dr. Neale Some of the happiest

and most instructive hours of my life wore spent in the sub
committee of the Ecclesiological Society, appointed for the
purpose of bringing out the second part of the ' Hymnal
Noted.' It was my business to lay before it the transla
tions I had prepared, and theirs to correct. The study
which this required drew out the beauties of the original in

x PREFACE

a way which nothing else could have done, and the friendly
collision of various minds elicited ideas which a single trans
lator would, in all probability, have missed."

Judging, however, from the quality of the "improve
ments" which many of these hymns have suffered, A.K.H.B.'s
jaunty steamer friend seems to have still some followers.

And as regards the second point — Dr. Neale's power as a
teacher of children. Even before his death his stories were
popular in America, and had been translated into French,
Flemish, German, and Russ. Lately the S.P.C.K. has
republished them "to meet a continuous demand," the
editor's notice in each volume testifying that " nothing has
as yet taken their place."

It seems well, therefore, to include in the present
collection of letters several dealing with his home life,
and with the homely Wardenship of Sackville College.
It was there that for twenty years he exercised this special
gift. Simplicity of language, clearness of explanation, local
touches, and frequent familiar illustrations are necessary for
the " teacher of babes," whether those babes be in their
first or second childhood. All these qualities abound both
in his " Readings for the Aged " and in his sermons and
stories for children, and by means of them he aroused and
stimulated their interest. And in addition to this, the
picturesque setting, which gives so much charm to his
stories, must have often inspired in other children, as it
did in us, a love and appreciation of natural scenery:
whether he wrote of our own Sussex, with its deep-
hewn shady lanes, its ellenge cottages, its wind-swept forest,
where, from the College terrace, we loved to see the
shadows of the clouds chasing each other ; and its bare
South Downs, where at evening the shadows lie smooth
and purple like the folds of a mantle ; or whether of the
wild rocky coast and weird " blow-holes " of Wales ; or of
the desolate menhir-strewn Land's-end of Brittany. His
letters, especially those written to his own home circle,
shew how true to life was the local colour of his stories ;
his were no superficial impressions gained by rapid travel,
for on his church tours he was an indefatigable pedestrian,

PREFACE xi

and thus gained an intimate knowledge of the byways and
highways of his own country, and of many parts of the
continent. These domestic letters, therefore, of an author
who wrote with so much skill for children, may prove
interesting to many who found his stories their favourite
Sunday reading in their childhood, and who now, perhaps,
read them to their own children with equal pleasure,
and with increased appreciation of their style and learning.

The editor had hoped and intended to avoid all mention
of the troubles which disturbed his life at Sackville College ;
her relationship seemed to make this the more desirable,
lest in any measure she should tarnish what was so con
spicuously bright in her father's life — his forgiveness of
injuries. But it was found impossible to avoid the record
of them, nor upon reflection would it be right and true.
A chronicler must not be like the sun-dial with its motto,
Horas non numero nisi serenas ; rather must he resemble
the camera, which gives due effect to shade as well as light ;
nor can the light be shewn without the shadow. And, as
will appear in many of the letters in this volume, John
Mason Neale's work was so incessantly and perseveringly
carried on in the midst of turmoil and persecution, that
the one cannot be related without the other. Unceasing
energy in work, and cheerful fortitude in trial, were
strands of equal strength, intimately bound together in
the thread of his life, and doubtless the one strengthened
the other.

I wish to record my hearty thanks to those who have
come to my aid in editing this volume of letters, and more
especially to the Bishop of Edinburgh, and Canon Christopher
Wordsworth, for revising those which touch upon eccle
siastical and liturgical subjects. The extreme difficulty of
my father's handwriting, and my own ignorance of those
studies, must have otherwise resulted in many flagrant errors.
My thanks are also due to my cousin, Canon John Neale
Dalton, for his invaluable help in correcting proofs, and in
solving many problems set by the frequent abbreviations,
initials, and references in the letters, and for many of the
notes referring to articles in Church periodicals ; to the Rev.

XH PREFACE

R. E. Hutton, Chaplain of S. Margaret's, East Grinstead,
and Sir Robertson Nicoll, for advice, encouragement, and
suggestions ; and with these names must also be recorded
that of my father's old friend, Canon Cooper, who has
recently passed to his rest. It was at his request that the
hymn on p. 364 has been inserted.

Those who have read Sister Miriam's Memoir in the
S. Margarets Magazine will see that I am indebted to her,
both for letters and for other material. And it is pleasing
to feel that all my father's children, (and some of his
grandchildren), have had a share in the work, although
my only brother, Vincent Neale, is now separated from us
by thousands of miles, and my sister, the Mother Superior
of S. Margaret's, has countless cares to occupy her in her
responsible post. And the dear sister who has been called
home since the first sentences of this preface were written,
was from the very beginning of the preparation, not only for
this volume, but also for the " Memoir " by Mrs. Towle, an
equal worker with myself. It is several years now since we
determined, she and I, that, whatever the difficulties and hin
drances might be, our father's Life must be written before our
generation passed away. Many a stack of letters, copied
in her handwriting, testifies to her patient toil ; and though
for the last year she has been unable for this, her sympathy
and interest were keen to the end. And beyond ?

" Yea, the dead in Christ have still
Part in all our joy and ill,
Keeping all our steps in view,
Guiding them it may be, too."

The lines at the heading of the chapters, whether verses
or translations, are in every case my father's, selected either
from "Hymns for the Sick," " Hierologus," "Seatonian
Poems," " Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix," " Hymns and
Sequences," or from MSS. poems not hitherto published.
The sermons on the " Comes " in the Revelation, referred
to on p. 368, may be found in "Sermons preached in a
Religious House," vol. i.

PREFACE xiii

The two appreciations of my father and his work in the
Appendix (pp. 371, 372) were written by his co-temporaries
and fellow-workers in the Ecclesiologist and Christian
Remembrancer — the magazines in which so many of his best
articles appeared. Notes referring to these will be found
throughout this volume.

MARY SACKVILLE LAWSON.

Allhallowtide, 1909.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. 1818-35 PAGE

School and College Days— Phrenological Forecast . . i

CHAPTER II. 1836-39
Founding of C.C.S.— Letter of Rev. E. J. Boyce 12

CHAPTER III. 1839-42
Brighton — Downing Chaplaincy — Wells 19

CHAPTER IV. i^
Parochial Work at Crawley 55

CHAPTER V. 1842-45
Penzance — Madeira— Somerset 45

CHAPTER VI. 1843-44
Second visit to Madeira — Brighton . . . 63

CHAPTER VII. 1844-46
Newman's Secession — Easter in Madeira — More Secessions . . 76

CHAPTER VIII. 1846-48
Sackville College — Visit to Isle of Man and Orkneys .... 95

xvi CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX. 1848-49

PAGE

Sackville College — Visit to La Grande Chartreuse in

CHAPTER X. 1849-50
Gorham Judgment— Visit to South Wales 130

CHAPTER XI. 1850-51
Deanery of Perth—" Hymnal Noted "— " No Popery " Riot . . 149

CHAPTER XII. 1851
" Hymnal Noted" — Morning Chronicle 171

CHAPTER XIII. 1852-1853
Lectures — Tour in Denmark — Bishop of London's Inhibition . 187

CHAPTER XIV. 1853-54

Tours in Spain and Portugal — Table-turning — Bishop Gobat —

Tour in Holland 206

CHAPTER XV. 1854-55
Beginning of Sisterhood — On Confession 233

CHAPTER XVI. 1855,
Tour in Belgium— Scotland— Homoeopathy 250

CHAPTER XVII. 1856-57
Sisterhood — " Hymnal Noted "—Disturbances 267

CHAPTER XVIII. 1857-59
Tour in South of France — Dealings with Children — Brittany . 287

CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTER XIX. 1859-60

PAGE

Tales— Tour in Dalmatia 308

CHAPTER XX. 1860-61
Removal of Inhibition — Tour in France — Catechizing .... 328

CHAPTER XXL 1862-65
Work of Sisterhood— Letters of Counsel 340

CHAPTER XXII. 1865
Laying First Stone of S. Margaret's — Lectures 354

CHAPTER XXIII. 1866
Last Days— Illness— Death 362

APPENDIX

Extracts from Ecclesiologist and Christian Remembrancer . .371

INDEX 373

3UC

CHAPTER I

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS — PHRENOLOGICAL
FORECAST

JOHN MASON NEALE was only five years old when he lost
his father, the Rev. Cornelius Neale (1823). His mother then
went to live at Shepperton, and placed her son under the
tuition of the rector of the parish, the Rev. William Russell,
an Evangelical of the best type, for whom J. M. Neale had
a lifelong affection and reverence. Many of his childish
letters to his tutor have been preserved, some of them in
round-hand, copy-book writing, and sentences to match,
others showing a freedom and affection unusual at that age
and in that relationship. One of these, written probably at
eight years old, follows.

Thursday night.
MY VERY, VERY DEAR PET,

I was afraid you would be doleful when we
leave you to-morrow, so I thought I would just write you a
little note. Don't be angry it's written so badly. I am
writing in a great hurry, you are now drawing the ruins of
Saltwood. Dear Pet, I hope he will love me as much as
he did at Shepperton. I hope you will have a pleasant
journey. Pray write soon. I hope Pet won't be so doleful
as I shall be. Give my love to Mrs. Russell and Fenn.
Your very affectionate and grateful pupil,

J. M. NEALE.

We part to meet again.

At the age of eleven J. M. Neale was sent to school at
Blackheath, later he went to Sherborne, and from the age

2 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

of fifteen to seventeen he was at Farnham. One letter
written at that time is given.

To A YOUNGER SISTER. Farnham (Feb. 7th), 1835.

MY DEAR CORNELIA,

Susanna has given you her motto — I will give
you mine—

" The game is got with little joy

That's got with little seeking ;
And if in parting were no grief,
Where were the joy of meeting ? "

Well, since I wrote I have been very much pleased with
Waverley. " What, has he got no book better than that
to read ? Well, I wonder Mr. Sankey allows it ! " No,
Waverley is a beautiful hill between here and Elsted, and
I will now tell you of my walk there to-day. I set off
(by myself this time) and walked along the Guildford
road for about two miles and a half, and then turned off
to the right, and after mistaking my way once, I got to
Seale, a little village, the curacy of which Mr. Russell had,
together with Elsted. It is an odd and very little Church,
on the side of a hill, and put me a little in mind of
Swainswick. I wanted to have seen the clerk and asked
him if he remembered Mr. Russell (twenty years ago now),
but he lived a mile over the hills. Well, I asked how far
it was to Elsted ? Three and a half miles. How far from
there to Farnham ? Three miles. That will do, I thought ;
A walk in it wants ten minutes to three. So I set off, and a beautiful
walk it was, but almost without a path ; very hilly, the
sand over my shoes, and a way I knew nothing of, so it
was not to be wondered at that I got wrong. I got to
Hampton Lodge, where Mr. Long lives (the Radical candi
date for Surrey), which is in the parish of Puttenham,
joining on to Godalming. I cut across the path and got
into the road again, which now, if possible, got worse than
before. However, about a quarter past three I got to the
bridge, which is beautiful indeed. The side next me was

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS 3

covered with mistletoe, and the Wey here being very
shallow, becomes as broad nearly as the Thames at Shep-
perton — not quite — and falls over some ledges of rock.
Passing over there I came to the village, which consists
of two streets. I took the one which led away from the
Church, where I wanted to go. However, I got there at
ten minutes to four; it is like Seale Church, only larger.
Then, coming down the hill, I got to the village about
four. How far to Farnham ? Five miles. Five miles ?
Yes. I asked another man if it was. Yes, it was. Well,
I thought, I will be back in time to-day, so, setting off
to run, I came to a place where the road was nothing but
a watercourse ; but fortunately there was a path, which,
however, soon ended in two lanes, half water and half
mud, and there was a farmhouse opposite. So I went
up to the door, but found it had the key on the outside.
So I called at the gate of the farmyard, but there
was no one to hear except a cow, who left off eating
to stare. I never felt so completely lost. It was getting
dark, it was raining a little, I was five miles from home,
and knew not a step of the way, and no one to tell me.
Just as I was in despair the door of the house opened,
and two girls made their appearance, who shewed me a
way through the garden past the watercourse. So I set
off to run again, but was soon stopped by such a sandy
hill that I could hardly tell whether I should ever be able
to get up at all, and then a long road by a wood of firs,
above which I saw Crooksbury Hill between me and
Farnham. One more sandy hill and one steep descent,
and I got to the foot of it. It was duskish, and the red
grey light among so many stems, and the roaring of the
wind in the branches, and the great number of stems, yet
all so immovable, and no other sound, except a water-mill
in the valley and now and then a robin chirping, were very
fine. Passing through Waverley I tried to run, but my
feet were so sore, and it so bewilders the eyes constantly
looking down to pick your path, that when I got to
Farnham I could hardly distinguish anything, and missed
my way in the churchyard. However, I got back to

4 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Mr. Sankey's ten minutes after five ; but as, fortunately,
dinner was not ready, I was in capital time.

I have been talking of nothing but myself all this
time ; however, I hope you will not think my adventures
uninteresting. I should like to show you how beautiful this
place is, and that you should go out with me sometimes.
I have begun a thing which is called the " Contest of the
Months," and which will be a description of how these
places look in the different months, with their palaces, etc.
Here follow two speeches out of it (for it is a dialogue
between the fairies). Pray tell me how dear Mama likes
them. If she does not, I shall leave them off, though I
have rather an affection for them.

Oberon. — " How calm, how rev'rend rise these forest stems,
Whose dark red twilight scarce admits a ray,
Save where, on some green blade or mossy stump,
An eye of gold is strewn. They stand around us,
Motionless armies, fixed multitudes ;
Fix'd, but not silent, for the branchy ocean
In one deep, low monotony of sound,
Ne'er changing, never wearying, as the rush
Of distant host is heard ; while the great Sun,
Perch'd in the intricate branches, seems a crest
Of glory on the summit ; hills and vales,
Or blue in distance, or with red heath cloth'd,
Through which the green paths wind their tortuous way,
All float in the thin vest of silver haze !
This forest, rising up the mountain sider
Skirting its awful head, where in green strength
Abrupt it fails, seems as the wave that rolls
Rising upon the shingly steep, and laves
Its very summit, but no further goes !
These solid walls of green, as they run down
By rocks and caverns to the green vale's jaws,
Are fittest for our court."

Titania. — " 'Tis pleasant now,

When hoary Winter throws one arm, bespangled
With gems of frost, around young Spring, who half
Shrinks from his touch, and half with pleasure viewing
His form, now milder, from her flowery store
Hangs her pale snowdrop on his icy neck."

. . . Mama wants to know about my class. On

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS 5

Sunday I had it, or rather not it, but one belonging to
James, the Bishop's butler. I could not tell what they
could do, nor did I know when I went that I should have
any, so I had not the " Bible Teacher." First, to see how
they read and understood, I gave them the second and Sunday
third of S. Matthew, and, finding they did not know much
about John the Baptist, I made them read the account of
his death. Well, then I began to comprehend matters a
little, so I gave them Daniel and the lions, which they did
not know about, to read, and asked them a great many
questions about it. It did very well, except that the
" Medes and Persians " came so many times over, which
they always would read Pharisees. In the afternoon there
were so few that I sat by Hamilton and heard him. " Now,
boys, I shall be so happy to answer any questions. What,
have none got any to ask ? None at all ? " " Please, sir,
would you take some of our potatoes, for mother says she
has got some nice ones ? " Mayow reads Mrs. Sherwood's
stories on the Church Catechism, but I really think that
till they know some of the Bible stories well, they should
not hear any others, which it stands to reason cannot be
so interesting. As to being on the Commandments, so are
all the histories in the Bible. Joseph's would do for some.
I shall have some of those texts printed in red ink, which
they are all very anxious to get, and as many of them as
they like to learn in the week out of their own Bibles (for
I shall mark them), so many red ones they shall have on
Sunday. I know it would be better for them to learn
something straight through, but one must begin gently. If
I get them to learn at all, for I have no power to command
it (no class but Harrison's does it), it will be something.
And I shall make them read the stories out of Genesis in
the morning, with the questions out of the Bible Teacher,
and in the afternoon out of the New Testament, and I
must write some questions for that. You have no idea
how difficult it is to ask questions extempore which shall
not be too difficult or else leading. There is a book to the
New Testament, but I don't like it much. For instance,
there are questions like these: — S. Mark xvi. I. "Now

6 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

when it began to dawn towards day." Now the question
is, " To what did it begin to dawn ? " Now, besides that
being a leading question, to what else could it begin to
dawn ?

I am afraid, as Susanna says, I have written very much
like a sermon ; so I will not put any more about it, except
that I felt very foolish when I was left with my class alone
at first.

To the same.

Bevan has just finished a letter, and has been com
plaining of the difficulty and disagreeableness of letter
writing, adding, " I make my letters do for a long time."
How people can be so I cannot imagine ; for most certainly,
next to writing verses, it is my most pleasant time.

In the beginning of 1836 J. M. Neale studied under
Professor Challis at Papworth S. Everard. He continued to
live with him after the Professor moved to the Observatory,
Cambridge. It was at this time that the first great

interest of his life, his attachment to Mary R , had

entered into it. The following are extracts from a diary-
letter written for her, and continued during the first part of
his time at Cambridge. He went into residence in October,
1836, at Trinity, having obtained a scholarship there, in his
eighteenth year.

April i$th. — I went to Shilleto's this morning, but did
nothing in the way of reading with him. He only asked
me as to what I had been doing, and settled with me to
come at seven on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays ; so
that obliges me to be up early.

April \%th. — I could sit with Shilleto from morning to
night. It is impossible to conceive anything of the sort
more delightful. He liked the Greek verses very much.
The advantage is the being able to compare them with his,
as he never sets his men any piece from Shakespeare that
he has not turned himself.

Oct. 2Qth. — Poor Mr. Simeon, I am afraid, is dying.

COLLEGE DAYS 7

Mr. Carus watches over him as if he were really, as he is
fond of calling himself, his son.

Nov. 6th. — I think you would like to hear what
Mr. Carus has been telling us, in his rooms, about Mr.
Simeon. I do think at this moment Mr. Simeon must be
the happiest man in the world ! I will give you Mr. Carus's
own words : —

" I went in to him after chapel this morning, and he was Death
then lying with his eyes closed. I thought he was asleep, of Mr-
but after standing there a little while he put out his hand
to me. I said, * The peace of God, which passeth all under
standing, shall keep your heart and mind.' He said nothing.
I said again, * They washed their robes, dear sir, and made
them white in the Blood of the Lamb ; therefore they are
before the throne of God.' * I have, I have ! ' he said. ' I
have washed my robes in the Blood of the Lamb ; they are
clean, quite clean — I know it.' He shut his eyes for a few
minutes, and when he again opened them I said, 'Well,
dear sir, you will soon comprehend with all saints what is
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye

may ' He tried to raise himself, and said, after his

quick manner, ' Stop ! stop ! you don't understand a bit
about that text ; don't go on with it — I won't hear it — I
shall understand it soon!' After a little while he said,
* Forty years ago I blessed God because I met one man in
the street who spoke to me, and oh, what a change there is
now ! ' I mentioned some other text to him ; he was then
so faint that he could hardly speak, but he whispered, * I
think — death — silence.' He had often spoken to me on
this subject before, and I knew what he meant — he always
expressed a wish to be alone when he died, not praying,
but meditating, and not even to be interrupted with texts
of the Bible. * Well, then, sir,' I said, ' we will not pray for
you, we will only praise God.' At that he seemed to be
very much pleased. Then he employed himself in giving
away sundry little presents, such as his gold-headed cane,
and so forth ; and then he said, ' There's one bottle of wine,
a very precious wine, the Lachryma Christi, in my bin ;

8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

bring that to me and raise me up. Now may God's mercy
continue to me the same firm trust as I now have in the
tears Christ shed for me (referring to the Lachryma Christi),
I want nothing more. I can only use the language of my
namesake, * Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart
according to Thy word.' " He has not said anything since,
but lies meditating. I could tell you nothing that you would
listen to after this, so good-night.

Recogni- Nov. i$tk. — When I came in I heard that Mr. Simeon

tion of was gone. He died at ten minutes past two, and I, as you
after death. mav easity conceive, have thought of little else all day since.
I have not yet heard any particulars. So the day he has
been preparing for fifty-six years has come at last. Oh,
what a meeting he and Henry Martyn must have had ! All
the pleasure of thinking of that would be taken away by
that horrible thought that friends will not know each other
in another world. I cannot think how any one can believe
it. Poor Mr. Simeon ; I cannot tell you how much I am
grieved for his loss. I should think there was a great deal
of sorrow to-night in Cambridge. I was going to say, " What
a glorious night for him ! " but there is no night there.

Nov. 2Otk. — To-day Trinity Church was a most strik
ing sight : the deepest mourning everywhere, not silk, but
crape, and the crowded state of every part, the altar and
the ante part being overflowing. Though I was a quarter
of an hour before time, I did not get a foot into the real
Church, and had to stand all the time, as three or four
hundred more had. Numbers had to go away. A beautiful
sermon by Dr. Dealtry, from " Them that honour Me I will
honour."

At all the Churches in Cambridge a funeral sermon
was preached, excepting All Saints'.

Dec. 4.th. — Harvey Goodwin really makes me quite
ashamed of myself. Every Sunday, for four hours, does
he teach in that Barnwell school, amidst the noise and
confusion of a hundred and fifty boys, in a room not thirty
feet square, and the natural consequence is that he is
knocked up almost every Sunday evening.

Jan. \6th. — At length I have completed a task which,

COLLEGE DAYS '9

at its commencement, seemed to me somewhat gigantic.
To make you understand, I should tell you that Plautus
consists of twenty plays. I began to read them Nov. Hth,
but had only accomplished four by my coming here (home
for Christmas). The remaining sixteen, consisting of 17,425
lines, I accomplished to-day, to my no small joy. But I
am sorry to see that the number of lines I have each week
read has suffered a continual decrease since I came back.
The numbers were, 9,986—9,530—8,512—5,870—5,277.
This may partly be accounted for by increased difficulties,
but, I fear, not altogether.

March Ajh, 5//6. — I never miss a whole day (in writing "Panting
the journal) without thinking what a very stirring sermon
one thereby preaches to oneself on the insignificance of
one's own history. We pass over unnoticed those poor
twenty-four hours, and yet they had their little joys and
sorrows, their hopes and fears, and contained in themselves
a little epitome of life. And just so it will pass ; granting
that our warmest wishes are fulfilled, we know well enough
that when some journalizer, taken up with his own cares
and joys, shall have entered an account of March 5th, 1939,
there will long enough have been erected — I hope in some
quiet village church — a tablet " To the memory of the Rev.

J. M. Neale, years rector ? of this parish, and of

, his wife," and so on. You will say I am seized with

a fit of melancholy. Oh no, and these thoughts do not
make me so ; but they do make me long, and sometimes
more ardently than I can express, that before that time
comes I may have done something which may exempt that
tablet from being carelessly passed by. If it be wrong to
have this " Panting after Immortality," I must confess myself
very, very guilty.

April ist. — It has struck me that, in the different Symbolism
styles of architecture, we may perhaps find an analogy with
the different stages of popular feeling in England. The
Norman, heavy, dark, and gloomy, corresponds well enough
to the absence of liberty which characterizes the reigns
of our kings, till John. Then the Early English has
certainly a resemblance to the far more cheerful and free

io LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

views introduced by Magna Charta. Still, though there
is great beauty in the parts, there is a want of amalgama
tion and unity in the whole, which, however, we find in -the
Decorated, the most perfect style, which answers to what
was perhaps the happiest age of England, Edward the
Third's. Gradually the Commons asserted their own rights,
and broke through the symmetry of the government, and
behold, at the same time, the Perpendicular mullions cut
the beautiful tracery, before unbroken, to pieces. I am
disposed to think there is something more than fancy in
that.

visit to After a visit to a phrenologist he writes : —

phreno
logist. Shall I tell you Mr. Bunny's character of me ? I
think I will.

" This individual," he says, " has the intellectual and
moral faculties preponderating over the animal. Of the
latter the affections are stronger than the passions ; but
when under excitement he would be very violent, and
lose his better judgment. He is too apt to concentrate
his thoughts within himself, to think without acting. It
is an unfortunate construction that Locality and Inhabitive-
ness are both very large ; that is, that while exceedingly
attached to home, he is also very fond of travelling. Of
exercises, rowing would be his favourite, but he would
in this have to practise keeping time. In the second
division Imagination takes the lead, and Language, which
should be cultivated ; it is intellectual rather than verbal ;
that is, he can acquire a language with ease, but would be
at a loss for words to express his own ideas. He would
be exceedingly nervous at the beginning of any exami
nation, and when it was really begun would be as cool
as any man. He is very apt to draw hasty conclusions,
and, though soon convinced in his own mind, is very slow
to own his conviction. He is exceedingly reserved to
strangers, and is very slow in making friends. The organ
most deficient is Analogy ; this he must cultivate, or he
will find that his hasty conclusions, and saying without
any caution what he thinks, will cause him much trouble.

PHRENOLOGICAL FORECAST n

He is very fond of music, more especially as connected
with poetry, but does not understand it, though his touch
would be good. On the whole, those faculties which act
upon ideas are much stronger than those which act upon
things, which last, especially Individuality, which is very
deficient, should be well exercised. He would be able to
imitate and distinguish style, but would fail in verbal
imitation. Order needs very much exercise, though less,
as before, in ideas than in things.

" To conclude. This head is one which has more good
and more bad points than most : with this consolation —
that the bad consist more in the disuse of what is good,
and not in any very strong propensity to what is bad.
So that by correcting these deficiencies, one of the chief
of which is carelessness, there is every promise of great
excellency." 1

1 Cp. " Phrenology," Christian Remembrancer, vi. 661-676.

CHAPTER II

1836-39

FOUNDING OF C.C.S.

There runs

Such harmony of beauty through God's works,
As that the loveliness of virtue needs
Must find a correspondent loveliness
In outward forms : for Truth is everlasting,
And, being everlasting, must be One.

THE Cambridge Camden Society, founded during J. M.
Neale's third year at Trinity, was such an absorbing
interest at this time of his life, as will be seen in many
of his letters, that it may be well here to insert an account
of the beginning of the C.C.S. — afterwards developed into
the Ecclesiological Society. The account is from the pen
of the late Rev. Edward Jacob Boyce, himself a co-founder
of the society. He was afterwards connected by marriage
with J. M. Neale, the two friends marrying two daughters
of the Rev. Thomas Webster, Vicar of Oakington, and
Rector of St. Botolph's, Cambridge. Mr. Boyce wrote the
following for the S. Margaret's magazine.

DEAR SISTER,

You ask me to tell you about the beginning
and early history of the C.C.S., and Dr. Neale's connection
with it. I cannot do this without some special reference
to myself, which I hope will not be thought out of place.
My narrative will be chiefly occupied with facts which
immediately concern the foundation and progress of the
C.C.S. It will, I think, shew the truth of what Dr. Newman

FOUNDING OF C.C.S. 13

says in Sermon xxii., vol. i., viz. : that " every great change
is effected by the few, not by the many ; by the resolute,
undaunted, zealous few — one or two men with small out
ward pretensions, but with their hearts in the work — these
do great things."

Neale and myself entered Trinity College, Cambridge, History of
in October, 1836, becoming from the first fast friends, c-c-s-
though previously unacquainted with each other. The
times when we were together at college were very stirring
ones, and full of excitement caused by the most varied and
opposite circumstances. It may cause a smile when I
illustrate this by saying that the Oxford Tracts on the one
hand, and Pickwick on the other, produced a ferment which
few can understand, except those who had to mix with the
religious controversies of the hour, and to witness the
actual furor with which men struggled to secure a copy
of each new number of Dickens's serial. Added to this,
there was the attempt of certain Trinity men to shame
the Fellows and Dons of Colleges into something like a
respectable attendance at the College Chapels, attendance
being rigidly enforced upon the undergraduates. This
was attempted by publishing lists of attendance upon the
part of the Dons, and actually by offering the prize of
a handsome Bible to the one who attended the most
regularly. The prize was secured by a Fellow who after
wards became a Colonial Bishop ; but it would have been
given to a well-known Dean, had it not been part of his
everyday duty, as Dean, to be present at Chapel. Some
profanely called this effort a " Society for promoting
Christianity amongst the Dons."

I have every reason to be grateful to Neale for his help
to relieve many a long hour of tedium during my college
course — caused by such weakness of sight as precluded
studying at any time after dusk — for he read aloud to me
after Hall, with the best intelligence, though not with a
musical voice, every varied thing that could interest one —
Oxford Tracts, Dickens, the whole of the Dramatic Poets,
and the most of every other poet of note, and, in fact,
anything that became of special interest

U LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

We spent the Long Vacation together at S. Leonard's,
and from that centre made visits to all the Churches in the
neighbourhood, Neale registering results, and myself copy
ing the fonts. In the Long Vacation of 1838 we went
together through Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Durham, on to
Newcastle, Carlisle, and Glasgow, taking notes of Cathedrals
and other Churches. During shorter vacations in these
years, various gig tours were undertaken through Hertford
shire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, etc.

In October, 1837, James Gavin Young (now Vicar of
Hursley) entered Trinity College, and in 1838, Benjamin
Webb (late Vicar of S. Andrew's, Wells Street) did the
same, and Edmund Venables (now Precentor of Lincoln)
entered Pembroke Hall ; W. N. Griffin, of S. John's College,
took his degree in 1837 ; F. A. Paley in 1838 ; C. Colson
and E. T. Todd in 1839. Harvey Goodwin was an under
graduate of Caius College in October, 1836.

It was upon the coming up to the University of such
men as Young, Webb, Venables, and others, that a small
society of men interested as much as Neale and myself
were in Church Architecture began to be formed : Neale,
Webb, Goodwin, and myself, having taken the lead in form-
First ing it ; and while the first members of this small Society
were a^ undergraduates, sucn graduates as Griffin, Colson,
Codd, Paley, Eddis, and others, quickly joined it. The
Rules of our Association were framed for one of mutual
friends resident in the University, as will be seen from the
fact that one of them imposed " a fine on all members who
did not visit some specified Church within four miles of
S. Mary's Church weekly'' Certainly the originators never
dreamt of anything beyond this. This small Association
took the name of the Camden Society (the additional title
of Cambridge was not then prefixed, I believe).

It was under the excitement caused by the opposition
of some, who — because they could not rule — wished to
destroy the original little coterie of lovers of Church Archi
tecture, that the following step was taken by Neale, Webb,
and myself. We were all in-college men. We determined
to try and secure a Head and an influential Leader to the

FOUNDING OF C.C.S. 15

movement on behalf of founding a Society which should
embrace the same objects as the smaller one, but open its
arms wider and extend its operations beyond the narrow
sphere to which the smaller Society had limited itself. To
this end, after ten o'clock at night, we three waited on our
tutor, Archdeacon Thorp, and laid the state of the case
before him. We entreated him to come to the rescue, and
did not leave him until he promised to call forthwith a
Public Meeting to be held in one of the Lecture Rooms of
Trinity College. The Meeting was called, and well attended
by undergraduates, graduates, and even so-called Dons from
various Colleges. At this Meeting in May, 1839, the
Cambridge Camden Society was instituted^ and the Ven.
Thomas Thorp, M. A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College,
Archdeacon and Chancellor of Bristol, became the President
of the Society.

I may state here that in the year 1843 (i.e. in the fourth
year of its Institution) such was the progress of the C.C.S.,
that there were connected with it either as Patrons, etc.,
2 Archbishops, 1 6 Bishops, 31 Peers and M.P.'s, 7 Deans or
Chancellors of Dioceses, 2 1 Archdeacons and Rural Deans,
1 6 Architects, and as ordinary members just 700. The
first Committee was constituted as follows : — J. M. Neale
(Chairman), E. J. Boyce (Treasurer), B. Webb and E. T.
Codd (Secretaries), B. Smith and H. Goodwin (Auditors),
C. Colson, A. S. Eddis, W. N. Griffin, J. S. Howson, M.
Thomas, and J. F. Stokes (Ordinary Members).

Up to nearly the end of 1841, the C.C.S. had, as it were,
no special means of spreading information upon the various
objects it undertook to promote amongst its Members absent
from the University, except those furnished by printed
Annual Reports and the Addresses of the President delivered
at the Anniversary Meetings. It was in October, 1841,
that Neale paid me a visit at Southampton, where I was
Curate of Holyrood. Naturally the C.C.S. became a chief
subject of conversation, and upon my complaining that
Members of the Society who had removed from the
University, were left without any information of its doings,
and suggesting that the C.C.S. ought to have its periodical,

16 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Neale (one of whose characteristics was " a blow and a
word") wrote off at once to the President and the Secre
taries (Webb, Young, and Paley), mentioning the suggestion,
giving a sketch of the design for a monthly publication, and
proposing that the name should be The Ecclesiologist.

The first number was published in November, 1841. In
the Report of 1842 it is stated that eight numbers had
appeared, and that the sale was rapidly and steadily in
creasing. This periodical obtained, in fact, such a circulation
and influence, that it became scarcely so much a mere Report
of the doings of the C.C.S., as a general Organ of Ecclesi-
ology, for, indeed, this Magazine gave first its being and its
name to that peculiar branch of science.

If any contributors to it deserve pre-eminent credit for
its success from first to last, few will dispute that John Mason
Neale and Benjamin Webb are two of these. I find from a
copy of volume one, belonging to Neale, which has initials
in ink to each article, that out of 158 contributions to that
volume, Neale made 47, Webb 46, and Paley 36. Under
Neale's name, in volume three, I find written, " Et quorum
pars magna fui."

Details of the work, progress, and difficulties of the
Society follow, and finally of its change of name. On
May 8th, 1845, after canvassing the members it was resolved
that a—

Committee be formed with instructions to revise the laws.
The following Committee were elected : Messrs. Witts,
Webb, Stokes1 (who resigned), Paley,1 Hope, Hodson,
Freeman, Goodwin. The Committee added to their number
Neale, Forbes, Bevan, Sir S. Glynne, Bart., F. H. Dickinson.
The upshot was — the laws were revised, the local habitation
of the Society was changed from Cambridge to London,
and its name henceforth became the " Ecclesiological (late
Cambridge Camden) Society." The Seventh Anniversary
was held May I2th, 1846, in London, at the schoolrooms of
the All Souls and Trinity Districts, S. Marylebone. . . .

1 Stokes and Paley seceded to Rome.

FOUNDING Of* C.C.S. 17

No wonder that he was proud of his connection with the
C.C.S. He often said, " Well, whatever else has failed, the
work of that will last as long as time exists ; " and he has
often cheered me by simply saying, " Don't forget what you
had to do with the C.C.S."

I am asked to give an idea of the number of Churches Work
improved under the auspices of the C.C.S. It would be as
difficult almost as to count the stars on a clear frosty night.
It is sufficient to notice that in the year 1843 alone, no less
than ninety-eight applications were made to the Committee
for advice respecting the reparation of old Churches, the
designs for new ones, the details in connection with the
internal arrangement of existing Churches, and the designs
for Church plate and ornaments. Two of these were from
Dr. Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, and the Chaplain at
Alexandria. In fact, it may be said without exaggeration
that not only from every part of the British Isles, but from
almost every colony of the British Empire, applications for
designs and for advice were received almost every month
without intermission.

Neale read many papers at the ordinary meetings of the
C.C.S. In the Transactions, Vol. III., I find one on the
Ecclesiology of Madeira, read April 3Oth, 1844, after his
sojourn there for his health.

In the fourth part of the " Monumental Brasses," l the
third plate represents Dr. Thomas Nelond, 26th Prior of
S. Pancras, Lewes, and Rector of Cowfold, Sussex. Little
being known respecting this ecclesiastic, Neale has thrown
his remarks into the form of a contemporary letter, giving
an account of the funeral of Dr. Nelond. This was so
cleverly done in English of the I5th century that he
had several enquiries from philologists as to the genuine
ness of the document.

Neale wrote the introductory remarks to the whole
volume of "Brasses," and a Latin Epilogue to the series,
consisting of eleven stanzas of four lines in mediaeval verse,
every line of each quatrain ending with one and the same
double rhyme.

1 See Christian Remembrancer •, i. 321-331.

i8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To show the versatility of his powers, it is sufficient to
enumerate the subjects of papers read by him, besides those
in the Transactions, between 1839 and 1844 —

" On Epitaphs."

" On the Remains of Scottish Cathedrals."

" On certain Churches in Hertfordshire."

" On Ecclesiastical Brasses."

" On the Ecclesiastical Edifices in Cambridgeshire, which
are connected with the Legend of S. Etheldreda."

*" On the Restoration of S. Nicolas' Church, Old Shore-
ham." (November 7th, 1840.) Printed in Vol. I. of the
Transactions.

*" On certain Churches in Northamptonshire." (March
20th, 1841.)

*" On Symbolical representations of certain Saints."
(May 24th, 1841.)

*"On the History of Pues." (November 22nd, 1841.)
Printed.

*" On the Ecclesiology of the Deanery of Penrith in
Cornwall." (November, 1842.)

"On Private Devotion in Churches." (1844.) Printed.

He was Chaplain at Downing when he wrote those
papers marked with an asterisk.

I do not know that I can add anything more to show
Neale's connection with the C.C.S. It has been impossible
to do this within a very limited space.

EDW. J. BOYCE,

Rector of Houghton.

April ^th, 1888.

CHAPTER III

1839-42

BRIGHTON — WELLS

Lord, we will not seek to know

What shall be our lot below :

This we feel, and here we rest,

What Thou sendest, that is best :

Take our thoughts, and wills, and powers,

And dispose of us and ours !

THE next few letters were probably written from his
mother's house at Brighton.

To Rev. E. BOYCE. Jan. nth, 1839.

Your letter this evening — a very pleasant glass of the
wine of life — I have been exceedingly delighted with, and,
as you see, have taken a large sheet for my answer. And
first, as you seem to think that I am rather apt to " take
up with the ipse dixits of a Newman or a Pusey," I will
endeavour to shew you that I have at least read the article
on the Oxford Tracts which you mention with some
care ; so, if I am rather tedious in my accounts of it,
you must, as you have brought it on yourself, forgive me.
I will say what I have to say with the book before me.
And first, I think to call it an Article on the O.T. is a
misnomer. The book from which the most objectionable
passages are taken is " Froude's Remains." And who was "Froude's
Froude ? A man, ardent in the cause, very careless in Remains."
his words, writing to his most intimate friends without Rlvmgton-
the most remote idea of publication. And is it wonderful

20 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

that such an one should now and then make use of
expressions which cannot be justified, partly, I verily
believe, in joke ? Supposing, for instance, that I in writing
to you were to express my opinion that Luther was a
rascal, you would know perfectly well what I meant,
namely, that his character, bright though it might be, was
not without its dark spots. But imagine that letter pub
lished, and what would be the impression which it would
convey of the writer ? Now look at " Froude's Remains " in
the same light, and then say honestly, whether you think
that his writings deserve to be brought forward as a
specimen of the real tenets of the so-called Oxford Party ?
Confine yourself to the O.T. and — so far as I have read
them, and that is very nearly all — heart and soul, entirely
and completely, do I join with them ; but for every loose
expression of their partisans, it is too hard to be made
to bear the blame.

But one or two remarks on this Review. Page 210.
(He begins) " If such distinguished men," etc. The argument,
as I understand it, runs thus —

S. Clement approved of an epistle of S. Barnabas.
Granted. But we have an epistle of S. Barnabas now
extant. Granted. Therefore he approved of that which
we now have. Here the writer must plead guilty to either
ignorance or knavery. Ignorance, if he did not know, —
knavery, if he concealed, that S. Clement quotes a passage
from that epistle which is not in that we now have. The
fair argument is, that ours is either totally different, or
greatly corrupted.

George p. 224. They find fault with N. for calling the Virgin

bert' Mary " the mother of God." Herbert says—

" I would address

My vows to thee most gladly, blessed Maid
And mother of my God in my distress."

240. i. 3 "tapers." Are they not directed to be used
in the very first leaf of our Common Prayer-book ? But
more than enough on the subject. I think that Review
the merest nonentity of an argument I have ever read.

CHAPLAINCY OF DOWNING 21

You have quoted a text for me. Let me quote one for
you. " But, beloved, remember ye the words which were
spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ-
how that they told you there should be mockers in the last
time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts : these
be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the
Spirit." How admirably does that apply to Baptist Noelism !

I have bagged n churches, making me in all 212.

Poor L. E. L. ! You have seen her death. It is
sad, but not, as a public loss, to be compared to that of
Mrs. Hemans. L. E. L. had certainly put forth her utmost
powers : Mrs. H. was but beginning to feel them.

Bannockburn l has reached 160 lines. I long to read it
to you. The Greek Ode is all but finished.

Russell comes here, all well, on Monday. He, by-the-
bye, is a convert, on general points at least, to the Oxford
Tracts.

Here follows an interpretation of the connection of interpreta-
2 Cor. ii. II, 12, 13, 14, of which I wish to know whether ^c^ii.
you approve. At first sight it is anything but plain. " We n, 12, etc.
are not ignorant of Satan's devices : I have experienced
them many times, and one of the most remarkable I will
tell you of. When I came into Troas, and had every
prospect of being of the greatest use, he stirred up my
discontent, because Titus was not there, so that I took leave
of them, neglected that opening, and returned. But thanks
be to God, however much I may in times past have yielded
to them, I am now able to triumph over them. . . .

In 1840 J. M. Neale was offered the assistant tutorship
and chaplaincy of Downing, which he was glad to accept
as keeping him in touch with the C.C.S., and also giving
him a title to Holy Orders. He was ordained deacon at
S. Margaret's, Westminster, on Trinity Sunday, 1841, by
the Bishop (J. H. Monk) of Gloucester and Bristol. Find
ing the position of chaplain to the college uncongenial, and
having a strong desire for parish work, he resigned his office
at Downing in November, and began parochial work at
Guildford as locum tenens to Mr. Pearson in the following
January.

1 College prize poem.

22 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To E. J. BOYCE. S. Matthew's Day (Sept. 2ist), 1840.

Criticism Thank you for your sermons, which I have read over
on< very attentively ; and will proceed (as you wished me to do
so) to tell you how they struck me, claiming no other value
for my opinions than that " in the multitude of counsellors
there is safety."

I much like your very simple way of dividing your
texts. I know that it is a mere matter of opinion, but to
me a sermon seems always clearer if the preacher, at the
beginning, tells his hearers what his divisions are going to
be, and then recapitulates each as he comes to it.
Bible I also admire your very apposite quotations from the

quotations. o n()t

into an excess in that line. I am not sure that I could
have listened to " twice have I heard this " without smiling.
Baxter may be a forcible example of the evils arising from
a too indiscriminate use of Scripture language : " Fight,
my brethren, against all your sins ; fight prayerfully, fight
earnestly, and the victory shall be yours, and you shall
pursue them even tmto the hill of Hachilah, that goeth down
by Jeshimon"

Again, I think you use " my brethren " too often. Look

at the addresses of our Church, the Exhortation — the two

before the Holy Eucharist, and that before the Commina-

tion — look at the Homilies again — and you will see how

very sparing she is of a personal address of that kind.

Dislike of You know my general dislike to hymns and therefore

hymns. mav sav ^^ j am noj. an unprejudiced judge : but I do

not at all like their quotation in the pulpit unless there be

any very great advantage to be gained by them — which

I do not see that there is in yours.

One more thing, and I have done. I think your
sentences beginning with "yes" or with an interjection
are far too frequent. If you allow them to be so, you will
of course have no force in them when you really want
them.

So much, perhaps you will say too much, for the style :
all which, however, does not prevent my telling you, with

CRITICISM ON SERMONS 23

truth, that I much like it, and that principally for this reason
that I am sure it must have been intelligible to all. And
as to the most important part, that I also like much, though
I might be disposed here and there to say, " Friend, come
up higher." One thing in particular I admire : the manner
in which you speak to your congregation, when mentioning
their religious state. You are far more like S. Paul in that
matter than you are like Owen. Owen said in one of his Owen's
discourses, " My brethren, I am well aware that a great many
more of you that hear me now will be damned than will be Wjth s.
saved." S. Paul said, " But, beloved, we are persuaded better Paul's,
things of you, and things that accompany salvation though
we thus speak."

Now, pray write soon and tell me that you are not
angry at my very hypercritical remarks.

To Rev. E. J. BOYCE. Nov. I2th, 1840.

To-day I was hearing about your three sermons a week. Sermon
Now, what I want to impress on you is the absolute wntin£-
necessity, I may say, duty, of your not writing more than
one of these. I do not mean on account of your over
exerting yourself, and so hurting your health, though that
is something. . . . You will hurt the powers of your mind,
and so unfit yourself for much of the usefulness which
otherwise you might hope for. It is absolutely out of the
nature of things that any one can, even under the happiest
circumstances, go on writing three sermons a week without
exhausting themselves. You cannot possibly read, pro
portionately to the immense quantity of matter you have
to bring forth. Of course, we all know that there is such
a thing as easy writing, but who would not rather sink
under, than thus avoid the difficulty ? And once get into
the habit, and you can never get out of it. Facilis
descensus Averni. No one can more hate the idea of a
clergyman with full strength and little parochial duty giving
his people other men's compositions instead of his own, but
this is quite a different case. I hardly suspect you of the

24 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

guilt of writing three sermons a week, but how far you may
not attempt two, I doubt ; and if you do, it is one too much.
So much for that.

To B.WEBB. Annunciation B.V.M., 1841. Brighton.

Tract 90. No. 90 of course has excited as much attention here

as elsewhere. No end of abuses are heaped on J. H. N.
for not " leaving the Church," as they call it, and upon us
for still intending to take Orders. I found the obnoxious
book in a high state of perusedness ; homilies and articles
collated with it, and every mouth crying shame on the
horrible Jesuitry of the author. If you wish a farce after this
tragedy, get a threepenny pamphlet called " No Peace with
Rome," a lecture in monosyllables by Edward Dalton, Esq.,
Secretary to the Protestant Association. It is the richest
thing I ever saw — almost beating McNeil.

To B. W. Wednesday in Passion Week, 1841.

... As to the piano, I wish you would see whether it
wants tuning, because if it does, get it done as soon as
may be. I hope to return on S. Mark's Eve ; and on
S. Mark's we will, all well, open our Sacred Concerts with
Jackson's Te Deum, which I have been diligently study
ing. . . . Now may S. Ambrose assist me ! I have two
hard battles to fight to-morrow. You remember Kingstone
Church which Hare praises as " singularly calm and holy."
Well, you may recollect that the North Aisle is blocked
off. I always imagined it to have been destroyed ; but
no — that part of this singularly holy Church is used as a
potato cellar ! This I cannot stand — I only learnt it to-day
— and to-morrow I am going at I to blow up furiously.
If with no success, theii I shall, all well, apply to Hare.
Fight That is battle one. Battle two will be de pevis at Old
against Shoreham. I much fear we shall there be finally beaten.
Hare doesn't seem disposed to act. I intend to take the
C.C.S. money, etc., and tell them that they are only to
have it on condition these nuisances or the majority are

ORDINATIONS 25

removed. When we voted the money, " we did it in glad
hope and expectation " that such was to be the case, and
therefore I conceive I may say this with the utmost truth.
If we should be unsuccessful, nothing can be easier than
for me to get the Committee's leave to say, that though
we think their retention a shocking piece of taste, still,
on consideration of the good done, we will give the money.

To B. W. Aug. i7th, 1841.

. . . Have you had enough Protestantisms ? Ready
for some more ? Well, then, I will copy out a part of a
letter of Burton to Addison (mark, by-the-bye, what he says
of Boyce) —

" I was ordained priest by his holiness of Winchester An Ordi-
on July nth, at Farnham Palace. There were about thirty nation.
men ordained. The palace is a fine old place ; many of
the men were lodged there during the examination, and
all dined there every day. The dinners were sumptuous :
all served upon silver. Oh, if some of the old bishops
could have looked in !

" I arrived at Farnham on the Saturday ; after dinner
we were ushered into the private Chapel — a queer place,
comfortably carpeted and cushioned.

" The Bishop gave an exposition ; and then his chaplain
offered up an extemporary prayer — such a prayer ! The
Prayer-book was altogether discarded. The Ordination
was conducted in the most comfortable manner. Great
praise is due to the head valet for the orderly arrange
ments ; he was most indefatigable in his exertions to secure
the ladies and gentlemen good seats : and indeed I may
say the same of the livery servants ; they were all motion —
sliding about the Chapel in pumps — noiseless as cats. Nor
should I forget the Bishop's Chaplain, who was especially
polite to the elect few who honoured the ceremony with
their presence.

"Arrayed in full canonicals, the flowing sleeves of his
surplice floating on the breeze which his flight from the
drawing-room to the Chapel occasioned, he smilingly

26 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

handed a galaxy of beauty and fashion to their cushioned
seats. When all men were seated in breathless expecta
tion, the sleeves were heard in the distance, and presently
appeared the Chaplain, leading in the Bishopess, the first
of a long procession of children and maidservants ; all the
candidates, except myself and one or two others, arose,
and testified their respect. Lastly the Bishop entered (all
men on the tip-toe of expectation), wearing the Order of
the Garter. He smiled blandly — the men-servants rushed to
the Altar gates — they flew open, the Bishop entered — they
closed — the men-servants retired. A hymn was given out —
the Bishopess arose and led the singing, leaning gracefully
over the pew door. Even at the very moment when silence
is kept awhile, the Bishop's wife commenced singing the
Veni Creator Spiritiis. Oh, Addison, is it not grievous ?
It was Ordination domesticated. Boyce of Trinity preached
a good sermon in the evening. In all the Charges I heard
there was nothing about the Sacraments ! " Thus far Burton.
Truly it is grievous. On Sunday morning I had the full
service at Hove. There, as I take it, a Protestant clergy
man in the Church. My text was " And we shall be
changed." I happened to say that the Bible knew — and
I was sure the Church knew — of no other regeneration
but Baptism. And he grunted and snorted to that degree
as to be troublesome. I am sure, that spite of the three
hundred years' be-calvinization of England, there is yet
a chord in most people's hearts that vibrates to Catholic
truth. I cannot hide it from myself — and it would be
affectation if I did — that, since I have preached at Hove,
the congregation is nearly doubled. Much of this is the
novelty of what they hear, but I hope not quite all.

To B. W. Dec. i8th, 1841. The Vicarage, Godalming.

... Dr. Hook says gloriously, with respect to the
propagation of the truth, that the great law annexed to
it is — the preachers suffer and the cause prevails ; and so
the latter takes place, one surely ought not to mind about
the former. One thing I see more and more plainly, that

EPISCOPAL HOSPITALITY 27

we are making out for ourselves lives of anything but No easy
happiness in the ordinary sense of the word. I do not
say this despairingly ; so be it, if we can only gain our end.

Mrs. Neale, senior, was at this time resident at Clifton,
whence he visited Wells.

To B. W. Jan. nth, 1842. The Bishop's Palace, Wells.

Oh, that you could have spent this evening with me !
I never could have imagined that episcopal hospitality was
practised to such an extent, or that so perfect a baronial
mansion existed as this. But listen — and you shall hear all.
I had finished writing to you and had just ordered tea, when
Law (the Bishop's son) made his appearance, a most gentle
manly man about forty. He pressed me to come to the
Palace, and seemed to have made every arrangement ex
pressly for my convenience. Ainger, the organist, wanted
to know what chant, service, and anthem I would have
to-morrow ; the verger, what time I would go through the
Triforia, etc. Well, I soon promised to come ; he went before
to get ready, and I was to follow. It was about 7. The Bishop s
Palace is in the shape of a quadrangle, about the size of the Palace-
great court of Trinity, only the sides right and left are only
walls. Crossing a drawbridge, over a moat which encircles
the whole, and is filled with flowing water, I knocked at
the great gate with its fine tower. A portly and very civil
porter appeared, who conducted me through the court to
the door of the Palace, ringing first a most antique and
sonorous bell. Here I was received by the butler ; and
up a glorious old staircase was ushered into the drawing-
room. It is sixty feet in length ; all the windows are on
one side, Early Decorated, of two lights with Purbeck
shafts ; old paintings of Bishops look down from the walls
— Wolsey, Laud, Pearce, Lake, and many others — all
originals. A screen divides the room in half, and under
its shelter — the Bishop having just gone to bed — did Law
and I sit and talk de omnibus rebtis^ etc. Then we had
supper. He is beyond measure polite : forced me to take
one of his horses to Glastonbury to-morrow ; hoped that

28 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I should make myself perfectly at home in looking over
any rooms I liked ; ordered breakfast for me in his Sanctum
(as he calls it) at 8, and then shewed me to my room. It
is in the oldest part of the building — one of the angular
turrets — ascended by a corkscrew, and called the Virgin's
Tower. And here, with a bright warm fire, a comfortable
bed, a good library around me, I am writing to you. Truly,
this is the place for a Catholick. The room where Laud
and Ken have slept, how can one but feel inspired. What
a lame and sorry account have I given ! But one cannot
describe by particulars. It is the baroniality of the whole
which is so wonderful. The Cathedral clock is now chiming
eleven. My window is a fine Perpendicular one. Imagine
that!

To B. W. Jan. I2th, 1842. 27, Caledonia Place, Clifton.

... If I was pleased with the Palace last night, how
transcendently beautiful did it seem this morning ! After
breakfast, which was served up very comfortably, I went
to S. Cuthbert's, a large Perpendicular Church with fine
tower, and then all over the Cathedral, which improves in
acquaintance. After service (which was poor, the minor
canon not chanting) I went through the Triforia, and to
the top, whence is a most grand view. Then I went over
the Palace — over its Early English hall, crypt, and chapel,
all splendid. The drawing-rooms (which are Early Eng
lish) are very fine, and are adorned with many old pictures.
One particularly struck me, the portrait of a lady, temp.
Car. Mart. You would never take it for a Saint, it might
be such a person as any one might meet, but there was a
Catholic expression in its beauty which perfectly haunts
me. The hair was that auburn which we never see now,
merely parted in front and let to fall carelessly on each
side of the face, and kept off the forehead by a white satin
band. Then I went over, or rather round, the garden, and
on the walls which are perfect — and such loveliness on the
one side, where the hills slope down to the very moat,
and grandeur in the Cathedral and other buildings with

WELLS 29

S. Andrew's Well, etc., on the other, is what I never could
have imagined. Law pressed me much to stay; that, of
course, was impossible. Then I went to Glastonbury — Giaston-
saw S. Benedicts, S. Nicholas, etc., and S. James. Then "
I went to the Abbey. The Church must have surpassed
anything in the world. From the extremity of the Lady
Chapel at the East end to that of S. Joseph at the West, it
is 720 feet long ! And the North Aisle (Early English) is
about 100 feet high ! The rise to the East is really sublime.
The late proprietor, having a taste for the useful, sold a
great deal to mend the roads. I saw also S. Joseph's Well,
and the thorn, in blossom.

70 Rev. E. J. BOYCE. March nth, 1842. Stogumber.

... I left Bristol on Wednesday at twelve, proceeded. Church
by train to Bridgewater, and then came on by the Minehead
Mail, through a most lovely country — the Mendip Hills on
the left, and the sea, with the well-wooded Somersetshire
combes running down to it, on the right. It poured all
the way, but by good fortune, I was inside. At Williton,
20 miles from Bridgewater, I found a horse and man, the
former to carry me, the latter to perform the same office for
my carpet bag. It was very stormy, and in the intricate
lanes I got quite puzzled, and finally lost my way, as I could
only trust to my horse, who was not accustomed to the road.
At last, about six, I arrived here, and as wet as ever I was
in my life. Mr. Trevelyan is a very pleasant man about
thirty, not married, but an elder sister keeps his house. It
is a good old-fashioned rambling parsonage, with huge
chimneys, and lattice windows for the most part. That
night came on a most tremendous storm ; the wind was
higher than I ever knew it before. Many of the neighbour
ing families sat up till five, and though we did not, to sleep
till quite morning was completely out of the question : huge
trees were torn up by the roots in a lane just above the
village. Yesterday morning I spent with Trevelyan in his
Church — a fine building — and from which he is going to
eject all the pews, in number seventeen. Afterwards we

30 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

went out to one or two of the neighbouring villages. I
never knew such an odd state of things. The clergy have
hereabouts very small incomes, but the spirit of Church
Church Restoration has gone abroad, and up to and beyond their
restoration. pOwer they are willing to give. But the ignorance in Church
matters is so beyond all measure grievous, that I could
hardly have believed it. As to the C.C.S., the wonderful
ideas of our power — they are not far wrong there — but of
our wealth also, are very amusing. But as to what they are
disposed to do, take one instance. In a lovely little Church
called Monksilver (it may interest you to know that the
pasture land there is said to be the richest in England), the
clergyman said he was willing to do anything, if I would
only tell him what. I made out a list of things which
cannot cost less than £50, and, to speak in the miserable
language of the day, are not necessary ; these — knowing the
expense — he intends setting about directly. In the after
noon, Trevelyan had a large party, who were, or professed
to be interested in the matter. How you would have
laughed could you have seen the intense importance which
they attached to everything I said in the matter ! I had
some difficulty to preserve a grave countenance. One story
I must tell you. A clergyman near here grew tired of his
Font, so he cut a hole in the wall, put it in there, and bricked
it up. Then he built up a post in the Chancel, made an
excavation in the upper part, and put in a little basin.
'' How do you like my new Font ? " he asked my informant.
" Why," says the other, " I really can't say much in favour
of it." " Can't you ? " said the clergyman. " Well, I think it
excellent. I have some fear though that people when they
see it for the first time will think me a Puseyite." I had
invitations last night more than enough to last me a month :
of which, as you may easily imagine, I accepted none. If
I have been guilty of silence in company before, you would
have had your full revenge last night, for I was not allowed
a moment's peace. However, I hope I did some good, and
that is a comfort. The " Churchwardens " * are well known

1 " Hints to Churchwardens." See review in Christian Remem
brancer •, 1841, ii. 11-18.

SOMERSETSHIRE CHURCHES 31

here, and like the Athenians, every one said to me, " Thou
bringest certain strange things to our ears : we would there
fore know of thee what these things mean ! " We are just
going to Church ; after that, we are going to see a certain
Sir John Trevelyan, uncle of my excellent host. Their
family have lived in the same place since Hen. VI., and
then they obtained it by marriage into one which had held
it since Hen. II. I fear there are few country gentlemen
who could say as much.

I need not tell you when I saw yesterday, one after
another, several quiet parsonages, each in its own wooded
valley, and with its little Church standing by it (seeming
almost to ask for Daily Service), what anticipations — I
should rather say, hopes — they brought to my mind. They
have a fine peal of bells here, which are now ringing in, so
I must end.

Friday night, March nth.

. . . You cannot think (to go on where I left off this
morning) what .a pretty sight the service was. There is not
a pew in the Nave of this Church, and all the oak benches
have most elaborate carving. There was a very fair con
gregation, and the men are arranged on one side, the
women on the other. In this part of the country the habit Bowing to
of bowing toward the Altar is retained in the Church, as the Altar
also of bowing at the Gloria, which last custom I never custom.
before saw observed. It was a very wet day: however,
about three, Trevelyan and I started on horseback to go
to Nettlecombe, the seat of the Trevelyans. It is a mag
nificent property of about 10,000 acres ; the house and
Church stand in a valley, sheltered on the north by a wood 1
of oak trees, of about forty acres, and planted in the
time of Hen. VI. or VII. The house is Elizabethan. The
hall is very fine, panelled everywhere with the Trevelyan
arms, and motto " Time tryeth trothe." The dining-room
is some sixty feet long, and contains the family portraits.

1 Described in a letter to Mr. Webb as a " grand Catholic oak-
wood."

32 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

We sat some time with Sir John T., a very old man, but
in full possession of his .faculties, and possessing (in all
things but Church building) an excellent taste. After this,
we proceeded through pouring rain to S. Decuman's, a
noble Church standing close to the sea, on a very bold hill ,
The clergyman is a sporting parson, and there is hardly a
respectable person in the parish (which is very large, and
includes the market town of Watchet) who is not a Dis
senter. The Altar cloth was spotted over with ink and
grease, and a pen and ink bottle stood on it. The incum
bent himself showed us over the Church, and went to the
Altar flourishing his huge riding-whip. After that, it having
a little cleared up, we went on to Cleeve Abbey, a Cistercian
foundation, now a farm house. The hall, which is far supe
rior to Trinity College hall, is very nearly perfect — the
windows unglazed, but wreathed with ivy most beautifully
— and the roof uninjured. At one end of it were hung up
the dried skin and bones of a sheep — lately slaughtered by
some thief on the premises — by way of charm against the
recurrence of a like misfortune. The Chapel is almost
entirely ruined. By this time it was dusk, and while our
horses were resting, we sat with the rest in a glorious old
chimney corner of the (formerly) abbot's house. The old
fire-dogs held something like half a cart load of wood, and
really it was needed in so large and lofty a room, panelled
too with dark oak. It would have made a very pretty
A pretty group ; on one side of the fire two healthy, stout boys just
group. come in from their day's work were drying themselves at
the fire ; on the other, the old grandfather, a venerable-
looking man, was telling us such traditions about the place
as he could call to mind. By his side were two of his
granddaughters, very pretty girls, nursing and playing
with a younger sister ; and at some distance, in the deep
oak window sill, enjoying themselves, I presume, most of
the party — sat a young farmer of the name of Bond, and
one of the young ladies of the farm, who is shortly to
become Mrs. Bond. And the light and shade thrown over
all by the wood fire, as the flames rose and fell, was very
beautiful.

SOMERSETSHIRE CHURCHES 33

I said this morning that the clergymen round here clerical
were very ignorant. A clergyman who knows Trevelyan ignorance,
well, was lately asked to take the duty in a little parish
about six miles from here. When it was over, there was
a christening, and so he went to the Font and proceeded
with the service as usual. When he took the child in his
arms, he found there was no water ; he thought it of course
an accidental omission, and asked for some. The clerk was
in astonishment; however, he sent for a glass of water,
thinking the clergyman wanted it to drink. And, in con
clusion, it came out that they never used it there ! Is not
this almost incredible ? But I can assure you it is true.

Saturday Evening.

We have to-day had a most delightful ride through The
a country — lovely beyond description — skirting the base Quantocks-
of the Quantock hills, which, with the Mendips, divide
the country into two portions. The woodwork in the
Churches is very splendid. I have been talking and
lecturing — and I hope with good success — till I am almost
tired. One view from a place called West Quantox-
head, embracing Bridgewater bay from Devonshire to
Gloucestershire, and the distant Welsh coast, was one of
the grandest things I ever saw. The clergymen seem dis
posed to do all they can, and the strong feeling everywhere
arising against pews, it is delightful to behold. There is
now staying here an old friend of Trevelyan of the name
of Francklin, he is " going into the Church " as people say,
and I am trying to get hold of him on the right side.

I must tell you of a thing practised in Tong Church.
The Squire has built a pew in the Chancel ; when the
Commandments are begun, a servant regularly enters at
the Chancel door with the luncheon tray ! . . .

March I7th.

... On Monday morning we started for Milverton,
a country town eight miles from here, and the living of
Trevelyan's elder brother. It was not a very pleasant ride,

34 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

for it rained the greater part of the way, and I had a beast
little better than a cart horse. However, we saw several
good Churches, and reached Milverton in time for dinner,
about six : spending a sufficiently dull evening, for the
whole family express in pretty strong terms their dislike of
music. On Tuesday, I had a long talk with Churchwardens,
Rector, and " all other who bear office in that body," on
the proposed plan for the enlargement of Milverton Church,
which I have no doubt will be put into our hands. I also
got three members for the C.C.S. Then we started on
our Church expedition, and that day accomplished nine,
of which two were in Devonshire. The scenery is very
fine, more resembling our own South Downs than anything
I have elsewhere seen. Wednesday, Trevelyan was knocked
up : so Francklin, whom I mentioned before to you, and
I, rode out by ourselves, taking a round by Wellington
and Taunton, and managed seven Churches.

I shall not be sorry to find myself at home again,
which I hope to be before you receive this ; but I have
liked my visit very well, and learnt a great deal, and I
hope taught something.

CHAPTER IV

1842

AT CRAWLEY

Lord ! by Thee my trust is bounded,

Let me never be confounded.

Thou my Praise, my Good, my Guard,

My exceeding great Reward :

Thou in labour my Fruition,

Thou in sickness my Physician.

J. M. NEALE was ordained Priest on Trinity Sunday, and
the next day accepted the small living of Crawley, in
Sussex. The following letters to Miss Webster, to whom
he had been engaged some few weeks, relate the beginning
of his short experience as a parish priest.

Saturday, May 28th.

MY DEAREST SARAH,

I can well imagine that you will look with Expert
some interest for the account of our adventures. We ences at
reached Three Bridges at a quarter to six, and then S. Crawley-
and I walked over. We were received very nicely by the
parties in authority. I called, of course, on the Church
warden, and had a good deal of talk with him. He reckons
Dissenters and Churchmen nearly half and half ; and that,
although the former have to go five miles to the nearest
meeting-house. Then I sent for the clerk. They begin
the service by singing, " When the wicked," etc. Now all
this melody may surely be turned to good account. Till
lately the Commandments have been read from the reading-
pew ! I have prepared them for the Prayer for the Church

36 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Militant to-morrow. The Communicants average fifteen.
The average congregation is three hundred.

I must be looking at my sermon. I know I shall
have your prayers. My hoarseness is not very well.

May 29th. ist Sunday after Trinity.

I have got through to-day with very tolerable ease
and comfort. After breakfast a visit from the clerk, who
gave us some account of his sayings and doings. Down
to the school, a nice, airy, commodious building. It is
founded (as a writing on the wall tells) for the instruction
Sunday of children "in the principles of the Protestant Religion,
School. as established." Query, whether such principles may not
soon be at a discount ? I never saw cleaner rooms or more
airy: or cleaner children. They have but two teachers
for the boys — poor men, and not knowing very much, but
very civil — and one for the girls. There are thirty-five
of the latter, and seventy of the former. I heard them
read and so on, and cannot much approve of their system.
They were reading the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, but
as to who S. Paul might be they had no idea. However,
those who can read (and that is nearly all) are able to read
very well. At eleven we went to Church — the first time
of my officiating as Priest. There were about two hundred
and fifty ; the Church was decently full. They began by
singing the Old Hundredth — there may be twenty voices —
and certainly I must say that they sing much better than
one could expect.

The They were very attentive during the sermon, especially

Bidding in those parts which more particularly interested them.

Prayer. They seemed to take the Bidding Prayer very naturally,

and were not surprised at the Prayer Militant, as Bernard

Leslie's clerk called it. My voice held out wonderfully

well ; for the Church, though not large, is, as we were told

before, remarkably difficult to speak in. After dinner we

went to the schools again. I made a large class and

catechized, and was quite delighted to hear the Sussex

dialect again. They got very much interested, and rose

AS PARISH PRIEST AT CRAWLEY 37

very much in my opinion. But they sadly want some
superintendent — there is no list of children, and no one
seems to know who ought to come. I made them go to
Church in the evening, but must alter the plan of their
coming somehow — for seven hours, with only one hour's
break, is too much of a good thing. There was a Baptism
in the afternoon. I had it in the middle of service.
The Church was crammed. People were jammed into
the square pews, so that I wondered how they would
ever get out. Mr. Sweeting, and our squire, Mr. Broad-
wood, who lives four miles from here, towards Horsham,
were there. They sang Greene's anthem — " Lord, how are
they increased that trouble me " — and really very fairly.
Already in my mind's eye, I behold an incipient choir.
They sing after the Second Lesson, but that is easily trans
posed. But, in the middle of the service, judge of my
horror, when the Churchwarden, wanting to open the east
window, got up on the Altar ! Really the Protestantism of
the people with respect to that is dreadful : it all arises from
having a short Chancel. People are forced, from want of
room, to put down their hats within the rails. The Church
warden's deed certainly somewhat disheartened me — how
ever, " the battle is the Lord's : and He will give them into
our hands " ; that must be our comfort in these matters as in
everything else. I am so very thankful that I have been
able to get through these services. I was very nervous in
the morning lest I should break down. A good many
of the people turn to the East — of course I set them the
example. The clerk bowed as regularly at the Saviour's
Name as if he had been used to it all his life, in the evening :
it shews the force of example. I returned the woman's
fee for churching. Do you think I was right ? To-morrow
there is a Club Sermon. Mr. Sweeting asked if I would
" lend him my pulpit," to which of course I assented, but
intend to read prayers myself. I think, the more I see of
it, that we may well say of this place, " The lines are fallen
to us in pleasant places."

(This was a preliminary visit of two or three days. He
took up his abode at Crawley, June nth.)

38 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

June nth.

This village looked really quite beautiful as we came
into it this evening. The people begin to recognize me
a little, I think.

Baptisms
duri ng
service.

June 1 2th. 3rd Sunday after Trinity.

. . . The clerk came to me and said that there was a
Baptism, but the parents hoped it might not be in the
service — and it was the feeling of the congregation generally
—because the other was the old custom. " Well," quoth I,
" that is a good reason, where there is none stronger ; tell
them to come in the service, and I will say something
about it in my sermon." Then dinner with much speed ; I
wrote something on the subject, then down to the girls'
school. They are much less forward than the boys. Down
to Church : very full it was. I baptized in the middle,
and preached from " He that hath the Son," etc. Then I
delivered an oration to the singers and had a talk with
the Churchwardens. ... I have taken possession of the
Church key : you can guess why.

Parochial
visiti ng.

June 1 3th.

I have been the greater part of the day paying visits
and taking down name§, and have met at present with
nothing but civility. There are not so many Dissenters
as I had expected to find, and I have hitherto met none
who had any objection against coming to Church. Indeed,
they seem to think one will be rather pleased to find they
go occasionally to meeting ; and as to the sin of it; tJiat
there will be some difficulty in teaching them.

I have got a promise for six or seven more children
for the Sunday School ; it and the National School are
completely different. The masters of the one seem to
pique themselves on knowing nothing at all respecting the
other. I have changed my pew with the one next to me,
and shall probably pluck it away to-morrow. Oh, my pew-
less Sarah ! how will you get on ? the only person with

CHURCH SERVICES 39

any pretensions to gentility in the parish who has no pew !
Now I am going down to the Church to see what arrange
ments can be made for enabling the men who sit in the
Chancel to kneel. I informed the clerk yesterday about Daily
daily service ; he did not look much frightened. One's Servlce<
love for the parochial system is rather severely tested here.
A child is lying dead within thirty yards of my Church,
and yet I cannot visit the parents because it is in I field.

Sunday, June iQth.

... In the afternoon I went to the School, fully bent
on putting my threat into execution of keeping back the
tickets of anyone who was late. But lo, the greater part of
the children had no tickets — only those who say their
Collects, which is only four classes. These tickets are
afterwards bought for a penny a dozen by the master, so
there was the rattling of money and a kind of bargaining
going on. Well ! that shall not be done much longer.
In the afternoon service there was a Baptism, and behold !
when I got to the font the child was not to be found. So I
found that this was a plan to avoid the baptisms in the
middle of the service, and determined not to give way.
The clerk went and fetched up the people, who, when they
found the whole congregation waiting for them, looked
beyond measure ashamed ; and I made their discomfiture
complete by giving notice, after the prayers, that I should
only baptize when the sponsors were in Church the whole
time.

S. John the Baptist's Day (June 24th).

You would have been much pleased could you have seen Saint's day
my congregation this morning. I do not mean that the Service-
Church was crammed, but there were really a very respectable
number of people, considering : the wetness of the day did
not seem to keep any away. I felt no inconvenience at all
from reading, and have had no pain in my chest nor any
thing else to-day. . . . Pleased as I was with the attendance
at Church this morning, I could not but feel sorrowful when

40 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I compared it with that in some of the village churches
which I saw this day last year, not to mention the magnificent
ones in Dieppe, crammed with worshippers. However, by
God's grace, we — or at least some of us — may live to see
the like here in England, and those who do not may perhaps
be better and more happily off. The schoolmaster turned
somewhat rarnpagious this evening, but I soon quieted him.
My texts on Sunday, all well, will be — in the morning,
" Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward " —
in the evening, " Prayer shall be made unto Him continually,
and DAILY shall He be praised."

Saturday Morning, June 25th.

ill health. . . . My dear love, you will be sorry to hear that the
service yesterday gave me so much pain and fever at night
that I more than fear I must give it up for a few weeks. I
shall go to town however, all well, and see Dr. Blundell
again — and, I think, make some arrangements about getting
a supply for the next few weeks. . . . And you must tell me
what you think I ought to do. ... How I shall get through
the service to-morrow I cannot exactly say ; and what steps
to take about getting a supply, for how long to engage one,
or to whom to apply, are considerations which rather puzzle
me.

June 26th. 5th Sunday after Trinity.

After breakfast to the School ; 48 out of 59 boys, 20
out of 25 girls ; called over the names ; read the first lesson
with the boys, 1st and 2nd class, and then back. The clerk
brought me a basket of cherries — his first. A fair congre
gation in Church ; gave notice of the Holy Communion and
of service on St. Peter's Day and Friday. Preached on the
character of Jeroboam ; somewhat above them. Spoke to
them of kneeling and responding. After dinner to the
School ; heard the boys. . . . Preached from " Let me die
the death of the righteous."

WORK AT CRAW LEY 4*

Addle Hill. June 2;th.

I went with Webb to Dr. Blundell. I was determined Doctor's
to hear the worst of the matter, so after I had seen him I vt
sent Webb up to receive his verdict.

Well, he says there is no danger, but that it is necessary
to take a good deal of care, etc. He says I must not take
any duty at present, that he thinks the visiting, etc., would
be a very good thing, that I ought not to be left alone—
both because this might become worse suddenly, and also
on other general accounts. He is very glad that I am
thinking of being married, and thinks that it will be, in
all points of view, a most excellent thing. The first thing
evidently to be done is to get a supply till one may venture
on the thing one's self, and that is not easy. . . . Dr. Blundell
says that a little exercise for my voice is a good thing ;
so I shall hope to administer the Holy Communion next
Sunday, when one need not speak louder than in an ordinary
room. . . .

Addle Hill. The Feast of St. Peter.

... I had a long argument with Wackerbarth, the Argument
Romanist, and never felt before, so much, how invincible Romanists,
we Anglicans are, if we will only abjure all common
cause with Protestants. I do not think that I shall have
Webb with me next Sunday, so I must do as well as I
can by myself. ... I had, you know, intended to stay till
to-morrow, thinking that Webb would have returned with
me then ; as it is, there are so many who, I hope, will
receive the Communion for the first time next Sunday,
that I do not like to be away from them, and must try
to see them all first. Indeed I could not feel comfortable
away from Crawley, unless there were a regular Curate.

Crawley. June 3oth.

I have just had a visit from Mr. Bethune. I perceive,
if we settle here, we shall be able to do anything with this
neighbourhood. This man has a great idea of my know
ledge in the Church line, and I lectured him about pews. I

42 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

do hope to have some hand, yet, in doing something for our
Churches — but if it should please God that I should not,
why, the comfort is, the work will go on just as well without
me. . . .

I have just come in from a long walk to that part of
Crawley which lies in the forest, and a wild and beautiful
country it is. Once get over the ridge of the hill, and there
are the South Downs in all their beauty. It came on to
rain just as I got to Shelley, for that is the name of our
hamlet, and I was glad of the shelter. There are but two
Baptists cottages, and both the people are Baptists — the one so from
Infant infancy, the other lately turned so. With the former I had
Baptism, about half-an-hour's conversation. He referred me to the
old argument — give chapter and verse for Infant Baptism —
(what do " Bible, whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible "
people say to that ?). Of course it would have been in vain
to give him the true argument, Catholic consent — so I con
tented myself with asking for chapter and verse about the
Sunday (he had just insisted on our not being under the
law). This, of course, he could not do, and he then flew
off to that passage in Ezekiel, " I will sprinkle clean water,"
etc., which, he said, he knew by the " unctious " teaching
of the Holy Spirit to mean the Blood of the Saviour. I
explained to him that it meant no such thing, and then
seeing the mother was listening I spoke to him of the
horrible thing it would be if one of his children were to die
unbaptized. Then I further explained to him that, to say
the least, there was a fearful chance against his having been
really baptized, and asked him who gave his minister the
power ? Would you believe it ? he went to the succession
immediately ! Mr. Davis was " brought under " by Mr.
Brooks, and so on, up to the Apostles. " No," quoth I, " very
far from it," and shewed him where their succession really
did begin. " Well, sir," he said, " I wish you would read a
little book that I would send you." " Willingly," I said, " on
two conditions, that you read one I shall send you, and that
you will hear what I have to say on your book when I have
read it." He agreed, and so we parted very good friends.
The place they go to is at Hand Cross, only a little more
than a mile, whereas Crawley is three.

PARISH VISITING AT CRAW LEY 43

July ist, 1842.

... I have been very busy in the parish to-day, and Cottage
paid some interesting visits. At one place, Mrs. P.'s, I V1
found that though the mother was a Churchwoman, and
even a Communicant, the daughter had never been baptized.
She is a nice modest girl, and I liked her frank way of
speaking. She does not see the necessity of being baptized
at all — thinking, I imagine, that it is all very well if done in
infancy — otherwise it is no matter. And yet, with strange
inconsistency, she belongs to, or rather often attends, a
Baptist (if, indeed, it be not rather a Socinian) meeting.
However, I hope I made some impression on her, and the
mother seems to be glad of it. I am to lend her some
books, first and foremost Richard Nelson. There are some
parishes where one could not venture to lend any of the
Tracts ; fortunately this is not one. My Baptist friend at
Shelley has sent me his book, which I am to read ; by good
luck it is not very long. I sent him a tract on the subject.
Then after dinner (though it was Friday), I went to see the
people whom I have been endeavouring to prepare for the
Holy Communion, and to look up some irregular children.
I think I have the art of making myself minded — at least
the people here are very tractable. Among other things, I
called on a woman of the name of Bollen, in the " Magazines "
(the worst part, as you will soon, I hope, know) of our
parish. I had only spoken to her husband before, and not
been in the house. I never before saw such a place. It
was used for a horse shed, but is much decayed since that
time. One long room, with mud floor, constitutes the
whole. The boards are half or at most three-quarter inch —
huge cracks between — the door will not shut — only fasten
to — the thatch :lets in the rain ; and in that tremendous
rain last night, the wet poured in upon the bed, and the
woman's ingenuity was almost exhausted in keeping it off
her husband, who still slept on. How like a woman !
Well ! I was determined to do something for them — the
more because they did not complain. So I sent to the
landlord, himself a poor man, to come up to me at nine.

44 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Then I read and prayed with the poor old bedridden
woman, and talked to her about the Holy Communion,
which I think she might well receive, though her memory is
none of the best, and then walked to the Bridges. Pichard
came up at nine. I represented to him the cruelty of
keeping people where I would not keep a horse, and
charging them eighteenpence a week for their house. He
was rather obstinate at first, but I made him — partly by
coaxing, and partly by threatening — penitent, and he
promised me, if I could get him leave of absence from work
for a week without being finally turned off, to repair the
cottage. This I shall try to do to-morrow morning. I also
reconciled two sisters who were at enmity. Scott's clerk
has been taking measurements of my Church all day. I

find that Miss has been in the habit of giving money

for attendance at the Holy Eucharist ! There is something
most horrible in this, and it must be put a stop to.
Services. After much thought I have written to Thorp for a curate

for two months to take the Daily Service. I feel more and
more that I cannot hold any living comfortably without it-
eat the bread of the Church while neglecting her express
commands.1

Writing many years later (1865) he says, "When I was
at college my one great desire was for parish work. I feel
certain that had I known that I was only to be a parish
priest for six weeks in my whole life, I should not have
wished for Holy Orders at all. And after having a very
neglected living given me . . . and just beginning to work
in it, I shall never forget (I scarcely ever am at Three
Bridges, which is in that parish, without remembering) the
bitterness of the disappointment, when it was said to me,
' Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.' "

1 As regards Daily Services, see his articles " On Ritual Irregu
larity," Christian Remembrancer, v. 525-542, and " How shall we
conform to the Liturgy," vii. 183-197.

CHAPTER V
1842-43

PENZANCE — MADEIRA — SOMERSETSHIRE

It matters little where we go,

If GOD'S good arm be o'er us ;
It matters little, if the bow

Be in the cloud before us.

His sojourn at Crawl ey was very brief. Symptoms of
serious lung trouble appeared (his father and two uncles
had died of consumption) ; and he was reluctantly obliged
to relinquish the living. He married Sarah Norman
Webster on July 2/th, 1842. In the autumn, his health
continuing very precarious, he and his wife went to Pen-
zance, and early in the following year to Madeira, as the
best hope of prolonging his life. The following letters tell
of his literary work during the winter. It was then that
he turned his attention to hymn-writing, not from any great
love of hymns ; on the contrary, he speaks in a previous
letter (p. 22) of his dislike to them. This early dislike was
no doubt due to the hymns of Dr. Watts, which he and his
sisters, in common with most of the children in Evangelical
families, used to learn by heart. For it must be remembered
that whilst we owe the delightful poem, "There is a land
of pure delight," to the pen of Dr. Watts, the appalling
hymn beginning —

" My thoughts on awful subjects roll,

Damnation and the dead,"
is also his.

A family treasure of his " Psalms and Hymns," contain
ing this terrible one and many such, is in my possession.
It bears the following inscriptions : " A Birthday Present
from John Mason Good to his beloved daughter Susanna
Good, given her Feb. 26th, 1798" ; and on the next page,
" This little book, received from her ever dear Father, 1798,
is now a birthday present from Susanna Neale to her

46 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

beloved daughter Susanna Neale, given her Sept. i6th, 1832."
(This was J. M. Neale's sister.) The family, therefore, were
brought up under Dr. Watts' and kindred teaching, and
it was to free children from this "yoke," as he calls it,
that John Mason Neale wrote his first hymns. The little
volume entitled " Hymns for Children " was published in
1843. The spirit that pervades it is the spirit of the Church
Catechism which teaches l a baptized child " heartily " to
"thank our heavenly Father that He hath called me to
this state of salvation."

To B. W. All Souls (Nov. 2nd), 1842. Penzance.

Writing Long ago I determined that if no one else did anything

for y to free our poor children from the yoke of Watts, I would
Children." try. I have been seriously at work at it the last six
weeks, and have accomplished a little volume of 34.2 This
I sent to Burns, who returns word that he shall be very
glad to print it, but one of Williams' is coming out, which
he wishes to appear first. I wrote back it must be now or
never, and if that does not suit him he must forward them
to Stevenson. Now, I should like you to read these (and,
if they will, the Professor and Dr. Mill), but you need not
mention it to others. I should like to have them appear at
Cambridge. You will see that Baptism is the chief thing
insisted on, and the Lord's Supper (to speak Protestantly)
is not even mentioned, on the principle of reserve. So
much for them. I have been reading Thoresby's diary,
some very curious things. It is surely a mercy and a
miracle that we have any Church at all. I have thought of
a good idea, as I think you will allow. It is a collection of
anecdotes against pues, such as the editor of the British
Critic gave us, for instance. You and I will do it, and
put our names to it, as proofs that the stories are authentic ;
we will set about it immediately. Scrap up all the stories
you have been credibly told, or know yourself, and send
them to me, and I will digest them into order. Let me
hear what you think.

1 For his own religious teaching in childhood, see " Memoirs," by
Mrs. Towle, p. 247.

2 See Christian Remembrancer ', iii. 435-443.

PENZANCE 47

To B. W. S. Cecilia (Nov. 22nd), 1842.

I took my wife to see Land's End, which we did to
great advantage, there being a fresh gale from the north
west, though it was hardly so fine as when I saw it before.
Thence to the far-famed Logan. The distance is four
miles, through singularly wild country. Reaching the inn
at S. Levan we sent for a guide, and pursued our way
across the fields. The distance may be a mile. The
Logan, as you know, was thrown down in 1824 by a The Logan
Lieutenant Goldsmith, who thereupon received orders from St
the Admiralty either to put it up, or leave the Service ;
and permission at the same time, to take from Plymouth
whatever he might want. He took masts, bolts, chains, etc.,
and fifty men, was eight weeks about it, and spent £200,
and so set it up. But it was not so well poised as before ;
it was 3 1 feet from the proper place, and wore away. So
in the spring of this year three poor men (one of whom
was our guide) raised a sum of £15, and screwed it up
quite right. Till this was done, it had been padlocked
for fear of another accident. The scene is wilder than the
Land's End, though not unlike it ; there is a most savage
pyramid of rocks thrown into the sea, on the very summit
of it the Logan lies. The heap may be 100 feet in height,
and is joined by a narrow neck to the land. It is nothing
but a heap, rifts and chasms and fissures yawn quite
through it in all directions. Through these, with much
difficulty, Sarah was got up. The summit, besides the
space taken up by the rock, affords just room to go round.
The vibrations are as much as half a foot — the stone weighs
80 tons. On a peak at a little distance is a stone
called the Giant's Chair, where, I suppose, the presiding
Druid sat. I cannot imagine a finer subject of a picture
than an ordeal there. To the right, Cape Pedro-y-inver
stretches out: three other capes to the left, the nearest
being Cape Caloge (the g is soft). Every little cove has
its own Cornish name. The Scilly packet (a sailing vessel)
was a very pretty object in the huge expanse of sea.
S. Levan's Church I could not see to-day. It is a mile

48 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

from the village, and a: way that flys cannot go. I have
received your letter, and am glad to hear that Goodwin's
paper is not likely to be printed. As to my tract, the
delay will do no harm. They will doubtless propose
alterations. In all these you may act for me — remembering
that its publication is not necessary ; but its Catholicity,
if published, is necessary. Especially I wish the protest
against galleries and stoves to stand. I am glad that you
"Hymns are not disgusted with the hymns. For myself, I have

Children " no <^ou^t' tnat hymns may 'm themselves be Catholic, but
whether hymns for children may be so is another question.1
And I am glad to be borne out by Keble and Williams.
However, of this you may be sure, that I did not write
a syllable in them with an unCatholic intent : and of this
also, that any passage which strikes any Catholic judge
as having an unCatholic appearance, I will alter at once,
without disputing about it. However, I am glad Stokes
and Haskoll are reading them, and I hope they will
continue to do so. You can read out ithis passage to them
with my love.

To B. W. Jan. nth, 1843. Penzance.

Miss Ashburner has just shown me your letter con
cerning the Cross ; with which I was much edified. I
think, however, that we must distinguish between the two
ideas set forth by the Symbol ; the Passion of our Saviour,
and the Cross which His followers must take up. In the

Crosses, former case, of course, it cannot be too highly ornamented ;

piamor kut jn j^e iatter it seems to me that it may be plain.

mented? TcK/urj/ofov Si. The iron Cross at the top of a spire is always
so ; because as the spire itself signifies our path to Heaven,
so the Cross on it signifies the means by which we must
endeavour to reach it. But by absolutely rejecting plain
Crosses we get ourselves into difficulty not only about this,
but about early Christian Crosses, and about them, when
they do occur (though I agree it is very seldom) on
gable-ends, etc.

Cp. Christian Remembrancer vi. 42-58.

LEAVING ENGLAND 49

To the Rev. E. J. BOYCE. Jan. iyth, 1843. Penzance.

MY DEAR BOYCE,

As you may well imagine, to leave England
is a great trial, and especially to Sarah, but then we are
not left without comfort. Truly, as you say, it is a lesson
to every one to work while it is day.

I have now nearly rid myself of the things I was
most anxious about, having sent off " Agnes de Tracy " to
Stevenson, and nearly finished the other book. " Durandus " 1
will, I hope, be fully arranged when Webb comes here.

All this is in case it should be God's will that my
work should be done — preparing for the dark does not
exclude hoping for the bright side — nor ought it.

I shall leave the " Hymns and Songs " 2 (if you will take
them) in your hand. I have some corrections, should
a second edition be called for, and a new hymn, which
I will send you. And will you also get the second series
through the press ? keeping the capitals, etc., as in the
first series. Let me hear this, for the getting ready another
series of Hymns I think a very suitable employment for any
one in my condition.

I will try, at all events, not to " rust out " ; and perhaps
I may be good for something a good while yet. Who can
tell ? With our united love, I remain, ever

Your affectionate brother,

J. M. NEALE.

To B. W. Feb. 2oth, 1843. Funchal, Madeira.

. . . This place, in an Ecclesiastical point of view, is R.C
the most discouraging and regrettable that you can conceive,
As to the Church, I fear it is in a most deplorable state.
I dined on Saturday with a Mr. Monro, who has paid
some attention to the subject, and, though a Protestant,
is not a bigoted one — so his opinion may go for some
thing. Indeed, the look of the thing may shew you
that there is something wrong. Processions not allowed ;

1 " Durandus on Symbolism," reviewed Christian Remembrancer,
vi. 332-335-

" Hymns for the Young," Christian Remembrancer, vi. 448.

50 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the Church is not open ; and, though I have kept a
pretty strict watch, I have not seen High Mass once.
Yesterday I was in the Cathedral twice — the first time,
perhaps three hundred worshippers, very devout ; but the
Mass said at one of the side Altars was mere dumb show.
The second time, perhaps 1 200 might be there ; one priest
only ; no chanting at all. The interior of the Cathedral
improves upon you — that is, if we had it, we could make
something of it. The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
is one mass of gilding, over tolerably good Flamboyant
work — something like Gisors.

The But about these Priests. The first thing that made

priests in Monro suspect them was this. He, I think, was walking

with one P , a Madeira merchant, whose brother is Curd

of Cunigal. As they went through the village (it was some
feast), an Englishman who had been hearing the sermon
complimented P— - on his brother's performance. " Yes,

sir," says P , " I'm proud to say that my brother is a

respectable man." Fancy that said under similar circum
stances in England ! In the Island newspaper, O Defensa,
I saw an article on the decay of the Catholic faith, which
they attribute to the vicious lives of the clergy. . . .

I have learnt a good deal more about the Island ; but
the rainy season has prevented my seeing much. I break
fasted with Lowe on Saturday. He has promised me an
introduction to the best parish priest on the Island, a most
excellent man. I am getting on with Portuguese as fast as
I can ; for none can talk with ease in Latin. The principal
matter of talk here now is one Dr. Calley. He was a
physician who has been missionarizing, at first, partly with
the consent of the priests ; but latterly, against the Church.
He is an Independent. The Government complains to
Lisbon ; Calley gets up a counter petition, signed by the
English, in favour of his proceedings and orthodoxy. Of
fourteen clergymen in the Island, eight signed, six did not ;
Guillemard was one that signed, but he is very sorry.
Except Lowe, none is very orthodox, though some are
well-disposed. However, the English are tolerably well-
disposed — they uncover on meeting the Host, etc. I will

MADEIRA 51

try by the next packet to send you a short paper on
the Cathedral for the C.C.S.1 It will contain a good deal
that is new to them, and, I think, to you. I have seen
Santa Luzia, a poor late tawdry Church, this morning
at High Mass ; the voices of the Canons are good, but
they are in abject poverty, many of them wine merchants,
etc. I find it quite impossible to make any progress with
them till I can get up some Portuguese. You will be
glad to hear Dr. Newton's opinion. He was half an hour,
I should think, examining my chest, and he says that at
present the lungs are only threatened, and seems to say
it may be got over. My story has got on very much.
I think you will like it. I dwell principally on three
points — The Curse of Abbey Lands, The Benefit, and the " Ayton
Possibility of Monasteries — contrasting them with other Pnory."
modes of giving vent to a devotional spirit. As I said
before, I leave the publisher to you.

Very good congregation this morning. Perhaps 120—
out of 288, the regular congregation, three-fourths Com
municants. Lowe thinks that he has done much towards, Hopes of
and considers very possible, the Union of the Churches.2 umon-
The Portuguese Church has always been on its guard
against Rome ; and there is said to be a very elabo
rate work by a clergyman of the last century on Papal
Usurpation.

To B. W. S. Gregory (March I2th), 1843. Funchal.

. . . We are anxiously trying to get a Quinta or
country house ; for the heat is sometimes almost over
powering. . . . One gets up a little before seven ; a fine
morning of course ; the mountains and the white Church of
Nossa Senhora de Monte are the first things one's eyes
open on. Breakfast at eight ; just the same as in England,
save that rusks with us supply the bread. Then usually
Matins ; after which, if it be Litany or High Mass, I
generally take a turn in the Cathedral, which is only
about twelve yards off. Then we sit down to Portuguese j

1 See " Ecclesiology of Madeira," 227-232.

2 See Christian Remembrancer, xi. 1-64.

52 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

and three days in the week our master, Senhor Dellanave,
an honest man, who was imprisoned for his loyalty three
months, favours us. Then I get about whatever I may
have in hand, writing (as I am now doing) at a Madeira-
made standing desk. This brings us to dinner. First course :
the most wonderful variety of fish (I mean one of) you can
imagine. Second : tough beef, mutton, or kid. Third :
oranges and bananas. Then, perhaps, a read in the English
Library, which is an amusing, though not very good one ;
and then out on horse-back, with our burroquieros. One
can trot so little, that their method of holding at such times,
the horse's tail, does not matter.

Mont-
alembert.

"Shep-

perton

Manor."

" Mirror
of Faith.1

To B. W. March 28th, 1843. Funchal.

... I am glad to say that we are going to leave our
present town house, and to get up in the hills, all well, next
Friday. Next week we hope to make a tour of the Island,
and to be out four days : so I may probably have some
thing to say then. Did I tell you that Count de Mont-
alembert is here ? He lent Lowe his "Life of St. Elizabeth,"
in which he has written the letter he sent with it to the
Pope, and the Pope's answer, both such as you might
expect. The Pope regrets that he tantd mole curarum
praesertim hoc tempore oppressus has not had time to read
it. To-day I called on the Count for the purpose of being
introduced to him, but he was out. One may have a fair
opportunity of mentioning to him the honour we did him.
. . . You will have this week, I hope, my short letter, and
Burns will have "Ayton Priory." I have written three
chapters of another story — intended to set forth the position
of the Church qua Romanists and Puritans in King James
the First's reign, and introducing Andrewes, Montague, etc.
Also ten Ballads of a series on the principal Church events of
English History, which are : " Last Hunt of William Rufus "
— " Martyrdom of S. Thomas of Canterbury " — " Setting up
the Standard "— " Lord Brooke's Death"— "Lord Derby's
Execution "— " Oliver Cromwell's Death "— " Bishop Fullar-
ton's Consecration "—« Bishop Jolly's Death "— " Meeting of

services.

MADEIRA 53

Bishops Broughton and Selwyn." I should wish to write
about thirty, with a short introduction to each. That is
all I have done. I generally write about four hours every
day, and Portuguese takes up time besides. Last Sunday
week was the Sunday Dos Passes. In the Franciscan
Church there was as odd a scene the whole day as any
I ever saw. It was so much darkened that on going out
of the sunlight one could hardly see anything. There Passion
were about 1200 people sitting on the floor, leaving a
narrow passage up the middle. At the South-east end
of the Aisle was an image or doll of the B.V.M., and all
day there was a tide of persons walking up to it, kissing
the hem of the garment and passing on. Behind the Altar,
and separated from it by a curtain, was a rude scaffold on
which was an image of our LORD sinking under His Cross ;
people had the same thing here. There was a good deal of
devout feeling, but I heard a laugh as some fresh visitors
came stumbling up the dark scaffold. The streets were
crowded — shops opened — like an election in England. At
five there was a procession. First came a banner with
S.P.Q.R.— the little girls dressed up with all kinds of
finery to imitate angels, and bearing the instruments of
crucifixion. Then the Canons chanting (I think) the Stabat
Mater. Then the Saviour's Image. Then the B.V.M. in
her agony. Then the band playing (and very well) a
plaintive funeral March ; then a rascal rout. Considering
the childishness of much, and the objectionable character of
more in this, it was really a very touching representation
of the March to Calvary. Many knelt when the first figure
passed, I fear more when the second. So much for that.
Since I wrote to you we have been to the Curral. The
ride there is sublime beyond description, winding in and
out among the mountains, with a precipice above and
below, and in some places the road is far worse than it
would be to go downstairs, if not very steep. If your
horse made one false step, you would presently find yourself
some half-mile below in the ravine. The height we went
is about 4000 feet ; and it was almost too warm when we
sat down to dinner. I have seen several more Churches,

54 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

but there is nothing in them worth mentioning. I hear
that at the East of the Island are ten or twelve desecrated
Chapels, and one Parish Church, thanks to the impoverished
state of the Church here. They have very few Festivals of
obligation — the only remarkable ones are S. Vincent and
S Anthony of Lisbon (June I3th).

March 3ist. Santa Luzia.

To-day we have got into our new house. It stands
on the side of a steep hill, some three hundred feet above
the City, of which it commands a fine view, and has two
small gardens and a vine corridor. Count Montalembert
called to-day, unfortunately we were at dinner. He knows
all about the C.C.S.'s election of him, through a mutual
friend, as it would have been an awkward matter to explain.
So he evidently takes it well. Both he and the Countess
are said to be " delightful people." He speaks English like
a native. [His mother was English, daughter of James
Forbes, I.C.S.]

To B. W. April ;th. Santa Luzia.

Mont- I have seen Count Montalembert : and you will be

fnTthT £*ac* to kear tnat we seem to nave taken to each other.

c.c.s. I told him about our election of him, at which he was, or
professed to be, very much pleased. He has asked me to
go and see him at Paris, and talks of coming to Cambridge
for the purpose of seeing Ely, etc. In all historical details
connected with Monasteries, he is admirably well up, but
does not know much about our Churches. One thing may
be brought into your Ecclesiologist : he says, that French
architects, in arguing against the possibility of introducing
Gothic, point to our modern Gothic as their strong argument.

Churches in this shape jr{ J3 with Porch and Altar recess,

he calls, not badly, mousetraps. I shall probably see him
again in a day or two, and then hear his opinion of our
work. He was very well acquainted with the C.C.S.

MADEIRA 55

through the British Critic. The French C.C.S.1 lately,

and successfully, prosecuted a Priest for selling a reliquary

and buying candlesticks with the proceeds. He lent me

a book of his, "Vandalism "and Catholicism," and a history

with plates of Cluny, certainly the most wonderful Church

in the world, with nine towers. Last Friday I saw the Convent

Convent of Santa Clara ; and truly I never beheld any-

thing more horribly protestant We were shewn up a

straight, steep staircase, at the top of which were two rooms,

right and left, both separated by a double grating from

the Monastery. Into one of these we went. Out comes

an old merchant from the other. " The nuns will be round

to you presently — they are in the other room just now —

Captain So-and-so is joking with them, and making fun

of them." So he was : asking them to go with him to

China, etc. And this is allowed, every ship that comes

in. ... Presently they came round with feather flowers,

which they make for sale. They were passed to us by

means of a dumb waiter in the wall. I went into the

Church: it has a kind of barbaric splendour, from the

walls being inlaid with Dutch tiles in large patterns. There

is a very fine Flamboyant Monument at the West end,

which would do credit to any Church. I must get it copied.

We are going on much the same. Our change here has

certainly done me good. We breakfast and have tea out

in the corridor — it is too hot to dine there. We began the

system of having prayers, directly after coming here. Our

cook, Francisco da Conceigao, has conscientious scruples

(I don't think he need, for he eats meat on Fridays) : our

housemaid is very attentive. It is odd that in Portuguese

the Faithful are called as ovelhas, the sheep. The great Portuguese

devotion of the English seems to make a great impression Church

., T .r , . . and Union.

on them. I am sure that if we are to be m communion
with Europe, the Portuguese Church will afford a very easy
beginning.2 No news of the Bishop yet. The Confirmation

1 " Comite* des Arts" in 1834, and " Commission des Monuments
Historiques" in 1837.

2 See Christian Remembrancer, xiii. 538.

56 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

must now be in Passion Week. However, it will not inter
fere with the Services. I have been working at the Ballads
— of which there are now twenty-two. But next week, all
well, I shall lay them aside, and write a short tract on
Private Prayer in Churches — bowing towards the Altar,
etc. I will have some measurements of the Churches
here for you, valuable as showing their gradual curtailment
as corruption increased. I saw the first baptism in the
Island Church to-day, that I have ever seen. And then,
by way of contrast, we had one in ours. . . . Probably
before I write again we shall have been round the Island.
One travels quite in the primitive style. Two b^lrroqueiros
and our cook will go with us, and they carry sheets,
blankets, and all the bread and meat we want, for nothing
can be got in the Island but eggs and perhaps milk. A
shocking accident happened to a party, in which Guillemard
was, last week. There was a quarrel between the burroqueiros
— one of them was left on the top of a mountain — and when
they enquired for him next day, he was dead ! Of course
they left money, etc., for his burial at S. Vincente, it was
all they could do. You cannot imagine the loveliness of
the climate now — hotter, though, than any English August,
but such unvaryingly glorious weather.

To B. W. Fer : vi. in Pasch : gaudio. 1843. Santa Luzia.
. . . On Thursday, while we were at Evensong, the Bishop
of Antigua landed. His coming created quite a sensation
among the Portuguese. Thursday, after Matins, the Con
firmation took place, and was admirably well-managed.
The Bishop carried himself very Bishopfully. The Governor
came with his family ; he was very attentive, and, I take it,
pleased. The charge good in almost all points, not a word
Confirma- in disparagement of the Island Church ; he spoke of " the
Holy Table, or, as it may rightly be called, the Altar."
One very touching thing : a young lady, very ill, was
brought in a hammock to the Church door, carried in first
of all, confirmed by herself, and then carried out again.
Afterwards, we were all introduced to him ; and were to

MADEIRA 57

have dined with him the next day, the Bishop protesting
against there being anything like a feast. However, he
had to sail first He spoke of the hurricane which had
destroyed his Cathedral ; then I could not speak to him of
the C.C.S., but I gave Lowe all particulars, and he, being
very willing to do us a service, found an opportunity of lay
ing the case before him. The Bishop would not promise to
apply to us for plans ; but he took a note of it, and seemed
much in earnest, so I think that a good stroke. On Good
Friday I heard the Tenebrae Service. The Count thought
the Recitation of the Passion admirable. But the finest Service-
thing was the "Alleluia" on Easter Eve. After Matins,
we went to the Cathedral, and found our way with great
difficulty into a W. Gallery set apart for the English. The
Church was profoundly dark, every window curtained, and
only one or two lights at various altars — none at the High
Altar. As the eye got accustomed to it, we looked down
on the sea of heads, as near as I could guess, about
5000, which filled every corner of the Nave and Transepts.
You must remember that since the Gloria in Excelsis on Descrip-
Maundy Thursday, not a bell was allowed to ring — not 5°^°^ o
even a clock to strike. The Priests presently entered the Easter
Choir — still no lights, except one or two held near the Eve-
books. Litany was chanted ; and you may judge of the
effect of that plaintive chaunt in that obscurity. When the
Psalm was finished, there was a pause. In one second, and
all at once, every curtain in the Cathedral was torn down,
the organ struck up with the full choir, showers of rose-leaves
fell from the roof of both Choir and Nave, and the fort guns
fired. It was a noble sight, though something spoilt by the
silly English comments around us. I could not see the
Washing of the Feet,'nor the Interment of the Saviour. . . .
The snow still lying on the mountains, we could not go to
the North this week. But on Wednesday we made a day
of it, and rode to Santa Cruz, some ten miles East — and
ten miles in Madeira is not far short of double the distance
in England. I saw two beautiful Flamboyant Churches ;
and the Church of Santa Cruz much resembles the Cathedral,
only its interior is better, except for stalls. I can make a

58 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

very good paper on the Ecclesiology of Madeira, which I
shall take care, all well, to send in time for the last meeting,
with the drawings. On Palm Sunday night I read the
Passion at Prayers, and our servant was wonderfully affected,
evidently never having heard it. My wife is teaching her to
read — a curious operation.

The summer of 1843 Mr. and Mrs. Neale spent in
England, most of it in Somersetshire, where he visited a
great many of the villages, " taking " the churches for the
Cambridge Camden. This meant filling in a paper with
every architectural and archaeological detail.1 As these
church tours were made either on foot or in a gig, he gained
a great deal of topographical knowledge of the highways
and byways of this beautiful county, and some of his
stories for children are set in its scenery : examples of this
are " The Rocks of Minehead," and " The Northside Pit."
The " Story of SS. Cyriac and Julitta " was the outcome of
his visiting the Church of that dedication at Tickenham,
in what he calls " one of our sweetest English counties " ;
and I think the very charming comparison of woodland
and pasture counties with which " The Prayer for a Sign " 2
opens was inspired, as regards the pasture country, by his
love of Somersetshire, although the story itself is located
in Suffolk.

To B. W. August ist, 1843. Godalming Vicarage.

I clear my head of Alexandrine and Constanti-
nopolitan Patriarchs3 by writing to you,. As to what you
say about Hymns, on the general question I don't at all
agree with you.4 Why should Hymns be less Catholick
than prayers ? and, therefore, why English Hymns less
Catholick than English Prayers ? We may wish to restore
Latin in both, if you like. But till we can, surely English

1 For a copy of the scheme, see Appendix III. to Mrs. Towle's
" Memoir " ; and Christian Remembrancer, v. 81-92.

2 " Victories of the Saints." Griffith & Farran.

3 Whilst in Madeira he had begun the " History of the Eastern
Church."

4 See " Hymns for Public Worship," Christian Remembrancer, v.
39-52 ; and " Hymnology," vii. 85-102.

SOMERSETSHIRE 59

Hymns, if good, are better than none. This, of course, has
nothing to do with the particular ones under consideration.
But depend upon it, we shall be acting more on the general
principles of the Church, in making the best of a bad thing
— allowing the universal abrogation of Latin to be so —
than in saying, If we can't have that, we'll have none.

To B. W. August 25th, 1843. West Town, Somerset.

Yesterday we were at Bourton Combe, one of the
most singular places I ever saw. You go along a cheerful
wood, embosomed in rocks, and at the end of a long green
vista stands a grove of dead larches, feathered from the
very roots, and looking peculiarly solemn — just like a land
of death ; but at the entrance were two bright spots of
sunlight, as if symbolizing the last hopes and offices of
Holy Church for her children, before entering on it.

To B. W. Aug. 3oth, 1843. West Town.

To-day we have been to Weston in Gordano, and it is Weston-in-
perhaps the most curious Church I ever saw. Chancel, Gorc
Nave, South Chapel to Chancel. Tower opening West from church,
the latter. S.W. Porch. On entering the Porch, there is
on the right hand one of those staircases like that I told
you of at Wraxall, leading up to a gallery running across
the South door. The loft may be circ. 1470. What could
this be for? On the South of Nave, projecting from an
arch in the wall, and entered by a recess, and raised
on two steps only, projecting semioctagonally, is a kind of
lectorium. I never saw anything like it. Well, from the
belfry, a steep flight of steps leads you up as if to the
Rood-loft ; but all of it that seems ever to have existed is
a stone projection on a large kind of bracket, fenced in
with a Jacobean balustrade. The Roodscreen is very late
and poor, and quite a distinct thing.

J. M. Neale had been preaching for E. J. Boyce at
Godalming, and wrote of it thus —

60 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. S. Giles (Sept. ist), 1843. West Town.

Heere followyth a litel tale :

"Aiitei There abidyth inne ye towne of Godlyman one Dame

Keene, which followyth harde after ye Gospellers, holdyng
Poperie in abhorrence. And the saide dame ofttimes did
complaine unto her gossippes, Woe-is-me that an personne
giveth us not the pure milke of the Gospelle, but rather the
unprofitable devisementes of mennes braines! And this
dydde shee, not once nor twice. Now there came unto that
towne one personne Neale, a great upholder and setterforth
of Puseyism. To hym quoth personne Boyce, My worke
pressyth sore upon mee : write then for mee a homilie, and
I will deliver the same. Quoth he, I will. And he dyed
write two. The which when Dame Keene hadde hearde,
shee, (supposing them to be Syr Boyce's) did triumph and
joy that now at the laste hee did againe break unto them
the pure breade of the Gospelle, ye whyche maye hee
evermore do. Amen.

To B. W. Sept. 2nd, 1843.

Crusaders jn your article on cross-legged effigies, which is very
pretty reading, a good deal ought to be added ; else we
shall appear ignorant : for example, that the thing is un
certain whether the cross posture had anything to do with
the Crusades,1 and that it has been, though probably with
out sufficient ground, denied. Again, the difference in the
position of the hands has often been noticed ; therefore it
is absurd of the writer to speak as if it were a discovery
of his own. There can be little doubt that the cross-legs
only means the taking the vow; the sheathed sword its
accomplishment.

To B. W. Monday in Ember Week, Sept. i8th, 1843.

West Town.

. . . As to your memoir,2 no one who admires it would
not, I imagine, agree with you. But you don't seem to see

1 Ecclesiologist, iii. 7-9.

2 Probably a religious biography, name unknown.

SOMERSETSHIRE 61

how much more valuable such an account is, to such as we
are, than the history of a Martyrdom, or even " deposition " Lives of
of the Ages of Faith. Just as the Church commemorates her samtSt
Saints, as for many other reasons, so also for this — that we
might be able to form some idea both of the interval which
separates them from their Master, as well as from us, and
thereby, if it might be so, understand something more of
the Adorable Passion ; — so it is now. At least I can speak
for myself. In reading of such a deathbed as Ven. Bede's,
or S. Bernard's, there is a mere passive feeling of its holi
ness ; to draw any comparison between the Saint and
yourself would be too foolish. But here, I see how superior
were Mediaeval Saints to the subject of that Memorial. I
also see how infinitely superior was she to myself ; and can
therefore judge the better of the gulf between her superiors
and myself. It is just like the Roodscreen increasing the
apparent distance between the spectator in the Nave and
the Altar. And, by the way, how wonderfully symbolical
is that !

To B. W. Sept. igth, 1843. Chew Magna.

I started at eleven this morning, in the most extraordinary
tax cart you ever beheld — a thing compared with which
the motion of our Barnwell one was smoothness itself.
When I put on the steam, I could manage, on level ground,
six miles an hour. That you may call pleasant travelling.
First to Butcombe, a late Perpendicular, remarkable only
for the odd way in which Tower and Porch are dovetailed Church
into each other. So to Nempnett, a very late Perpendicular tour-
Church. Here I lunched at a farmhouse dinner ; and had
some conversation to the point with a young Wesleyan
woman, staying there for her health. Then to Chew Stoke,
another fair Perpendicular Church. And so here, a little
after five. Here I found Francklin, as ever the most gentle
manly of men, waiting for me. In his gig to Stanton Drew,
a church of a wonderful shape. . . . Coming back, we
dined at six. Besides Francklin and his wife, there was one
Burroughs, Rector of Chelwood. Altogether it is evident

62 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

that the Church is making way in these parts. Francklin
himself has read and thought a great deal, and has a
good deal of influence, which I don't wonder at, for there
is great fascination in his manner. His wife is a pretty
enough girl, and ladylike, but as fit to be a clergyman's
Celibacy wife as I am. The conversation turned on the celibacy of
oftbe tke Clergy, and I was much amused with Francklin,
it shews how people deceive themselves. The rooms are
furnished most luxuriously, chimney ornaments, etc., hand
some dinner service, well-cut glass, and so forth. "Ah,"
says Francklin, "when I was a single man, I did not
mind my £5 or ^"10 in charity, but now we are forced
to live in the extreme of economy, and can give away
nothing, for my wife has never been used to anything like
this." Thinks I to myself, No more has mine : nor I trust
ever will be.

CHAPTER VI

1843-44

SECOND VISIT TO MADEIRA — BRIGHTON

Eye hath never seen the glory ;

Ear hath never heard the song ;
Heart of man can never image

What good things to them belong,
Who have loved the LORD of beauty
While they dwelt in this world's throng.

MR. and Mrs. Neale returned to Madeira for this and the
following winter.

To B. W. Nov. 2;th, 1843. Santa Luzia.

. . . You may imagine how I longed to be at Cam
bridge at the time of the Queen's visit, and how much I
envy you the quantity of news you have to tell. Till you His work
are in exile, which I hope you may never be, you cannot carried
imagine how entirely we seem to live here in a world of our Madeira
own — we English, I mean ; there is not a single event which
can possibly interest anyone who does not well know the
place. Count Montalembert and I are particularly unfortu
nate in missing each other ; but he keeps me pretty well
supplied with the latest French Ecclesiological intelligence.
So I am reduced to talk about myself, and will begin by
telling you that I am much the same ; stronger in some
points and not so strong in others ; but I hope that the
former preponderate. I am very well satisfied with what I
do, till a letter of yours comes ; measuring myself with those

64 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

around me, it is no vanity to say that I am doing wonders
in the way of work ; but to compare myself with you at
Cambridge makes me feel as if I were no good at all.
Sometimes, as our worthy friend said, I could " lament and
cry " with the thought. But this I am certain of, if ever I
am restored to work with you all, I shall have authorities
for almost everything. You cannot think how well I am
getting up Ecclesiastical History. Writing and reading
little else from morning to night is enough to make one so.
The Greek History grows in interest upon me ; I am now
writing away about Theophilus of Alexandria. I am in
hopes in the section of the Introductory Essay on the
Architectural differences between the Eastern and Western
Churches, to strike out something new, and to prove to a
dead certainty that our views on the subject of the final
"Ballads development of architecture are most certainly true. I am
for Maim- ajso engaged m taking the devil by the nose, in a new set
of Ballads, to be a companion to the threepenny ones ; they
are for manufacturers.1

An instance of popular religionism. Riding with Lane

the other day, I was pressing on him the dishonesty of

Baptismal not holding Baptismal Regeneration. " No," says Lane :

Regenera- « ^ j cannot do jt . whv> jf j did » (seeing a child cross

the road), " I must say that all those Romish children
were regenerate." This I call Evangelical naivete. One
Sunday evening, at six, we sat down with our Bibles before
us, and discussed the topic till nine. I never talked over
the matter so fairly before. Montalembert is writing the
life of S. Bernard. He must be thoroughly happy. He
and another French nobleman, also a distinguished eccle-
siologist, are living together with their wives in the Deanery,
one of the loveliest quintas (our own excepted) in Funchal ;
busy on the Revival. I am rather startled by thinking that
(in the "Greek History") I shall be the first Anglican,
writing on Catholick principles, who has touched the
Iconoclast controversy.

1 See Christian Remembrancer, v. 733-745.

SECOND VISIT TO MADEIRA 65

To Rev. W. RUSSELL. Nov. 28th, 1843. Santa Luzia.

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

I did not forget that Sunday was your birthday,
for which you had all my best wishes, although at so great
a distance, As we are writing home, I shall take this
opportunity of sending you a few lines. You have heard, I
dare say, of our arrival here, and of all other particulars,
such as the earthquake, etc. You cannot think how com
fortable we are in our little quinta, nor how much more we
are surrounded by English luxuries than last year. It
stands about 500 feet above the sea, embracing a view —
below, of the City and the Roads — above, of the mountains,
with the Church of our Lady of the Mount, towering up to
the height of 2000 feet, or about that of Skiddaw. Our
house is about 100 yards from the Mount road, approached
through a long narrow garden shaded with orange trees,
and with a vine corridor at the top of a terrace in front, for
the whole mountain is terraced out from top to bottom.
We have two servants, a woman and a boy, who neither Daily
of them speak a word of English : — together they have routme-
£i os. lod. a month. We have two sitting-rooms on the
ground floor, one of which I take for my study, and in it I
am now writing at my standing-desk ; and a drawing-room ;
with three bedrooms upstairs. We get up about seven or a
little before ; the days of course are now longer here than
in England. The feeling in coming down is that it is a
pleasant Spring morning, for we are several degrees cooler
than the town ; the thermometer with us seldom gets above
67° in the shade. Before breakfast we have prayers, to the
edification of our servants ; afterwards, I write all the morn
ing at the "Greek History "till half-past one, when we dine.
Then, when the heat has a little subsided, the horses come
up and we sally forth, either to call or for a good ride. By
sunset we come in, have tea about half-past five, and then
I write again at one thing or another — principally at my
Portuguese Translation of Bishop Andrewes — till prayers.
We have supper at nine, and to bed by eleven. We have
lately had stormy weather ; in one gale we lost 700 oranges,

LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

yet our trees still bend with their fruit. We have now as
good as you have for the first six weeks after you get them,
but we do not consider them good till Christmas. The
scent of the green orange I take to be the most delicious of
any ; I think superior to the lime tree in July. To-day is
a thoroughly Madeira day ; a bright sun and small pointed
rain. The rainbows in the island are superb. In going to
the Curral the other day, the immense crater was filled with
clouds boiling up, but across it from peak to peak sat two
rainbows, the most lovely thing I ever saw. . . . Did you
remember the day that made it twenty years since we
came to Shepperton ? . . .

From a later letter —

It is only wonderful to think, if earth is so transcendently
and ravishingly lovely, what Heaven must be! There is
something in a mountainous country which seems to call
forth all one's powers. Wilberforce, I think, says somewhere
that he never loved his friends so well as amongst mountains.
And it is very true.

Tour.

Conveyed
in ham
mocks.

To B. W. Dec. 7th, 1843. Santa Luzia.

I have at length been my long projected tour round the
N.W. part of the island, and as I know how disagreeable
tours are to read, I will not inflict a journal of it upon you.
My companions were Lane and Wray : I will not tell how
much I wished for you. Monday we went by water to
Callete, twenty miles : slept in a house provided for us by
one of the Portuguese merchants ; Tuesday across the island
to S. Vincente, seeing the famous waterfall of the Rabagal ;
and Wednesday, returned by the lovely Ribeira Brava. Our
conveyance was by hammocks, I can assure you the appear
ance is most imposing. We had fifteen men with us, four to
each hammock, two luggage bearers, and Joaquim, our
servant. Bivouacking on the top of some glorious mountain
peak, the hammocks slung up kettlewise on forked sticks,
the men in groups of two or three, is most picturesque ;
then again the low plaintive chant of the bearers, taken up

CHRISTMAS NIGHT 67

antiphonally from gang to gang, as they advance up roads
which an Englishman would think impassable. The half-
dreamy state in which you are carried along through ever
green woods in the midst of the most stupendous scenery,
as you wind up the ravines, makes one feel as if one had
eaten of the Lotus, and cared for nothing else but to live
and die in such places. The unaffected delight of the Delight in
bearers in the scenery, and the rapture of those who had scenery-
not seen some part of it before, was unbounded : it shews
that this country, with all its many faults, is still truly
Catholick. I could have thought it a luxury yesterday to
have a good cry in our progress up the Ribeira Brava ; the
vale of Llaniltydd, though inferior beyond the power of
words to express, may give you a faint idea of it, and
the road, or rather sheep-walk, for fifteen or sixteen miles
winds along through magnificent forest trees at half its
height, the scene shifting every minute. The Rabagal, a
fall of some 600 feet, is truly sublime ; and Wray says, that
he never in Switzerland saw anything so grand as the first
view of S. Vincente.

To B. W. Christmas Night, 1843. Santa Luzia.

Yesterday evening at 7.30, armed with a great coat, Christmas
respirator and lantern, I sallied forth : the first time I have Eve*
gone out at night since I was at Cambridge. Going to
Edwards, I found a large family party : and but that nearly
as much Portuguese was spoken as English, I might have
fancied myself in England. After a meat tea, I went down
to the Cathedral, but did not go with the others, as, wanting
to be" close to the Choir, Padre Fa had secured me a chair
in a very excellent place ; you know the Roodscreen here
is only a rail : I sat close to it, on the South side of the
Holy Poors. The Cathedral was crowded from one end to
the other : The Choir lighted with tapers, and a Corona
Lucis was in the middle of the Nave. I was, as I like to
be, in the midst of the poor : though there were also some
of the better sort by me. All the Priests in the city almost
must have been there : besides the double Stalls there were

68 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

benches for them. I had a Missal and Breviary and went in
about nine. I had only just taken my place, when the Choir
in the little organ gallery (North of Chancel aisle) thundered
out " Christus natus est nobis : venite, venite, adoremus ! "
and Matins began. The chants were admirably well sung,
and the thing : but the Antiphons were just as Protestant
and operatic. Still, they were very well performed. It is
a noble sight to see the whole immense assembly kneel at
the "Venite, procidamus ante Deum." To be sure, we
might introduce that in our Church. I was disgusted to
see Count Montalembert, with all his French party, and
some other ladies, admitted into the West end of the Choir
— and shall not fail to gird at him upon the bye. " For the
sanctity of the place doth not free those whom the accusa
tion of temerity condemns." The Antiphons are throughout
rather poor : the 7th lesson where S. Gregory says that
having three Masses that day to celebrate he must be short,
comes in beautifully. In the 8th lesson, the Celebrant, etc.,
in white and gold vestments, entered : and just before Mid
night Te Deum was sung. Then the bells rang, and Cock
Mass began, and very beautifully it was performed : always
excepting the vile voluntary performed during the Canon.
As the Proper Preface was chanted, one of the Priests in
chasuble came from the Choir, bearing a little image of
the Infant SAVIOUR : and going down with it presented it
for the people to kiss. Enlightened Protestants are much
disgusted at this. Mass was over about I : and as I came
away and mounted our hill, the pealing of bells, and flashing
of torches here and there upon the white houses, and con
course of worshippers, carried me back to other times. The
second Mass, you know, is said after Lauds, the third after
Tierce, and the Portuguese spend the vigil in attending all.
However I came home, none the worse. Our boy was with
me ; our other servant went out after my return to the
second Mass in the Jesuits' Church. I never so fully under
stood the wonderful skill with which the Church directs
enthusiasm, as I did last night. I am glad that we English
did not disgrace ourselves. We had about 70 Communicants
yesterday, and perhaps 1 20 to-day. To-day it is the fashion

HISTORY OF THE HOLY EASTERN CHURCH 69

to fire guns in all quarters at intervals. A man-of-war
came in and fired a salute : and as the clouds were low,
the roll and roar of its echoes among the mountains was
singularly grand. The Portuguese dish for to-day is pork
and garlic : the former, evidently by way of testifying
abhorrence to the Jews. The flowers, etc., used, are sugar
cane, roses, fern, and a kind of evergreen like alder, only
darker.

To B. W. Jan. nth, 1844. Madeira.

. . . Now about the "Greek History." It goes on very "History
slowly. I have to-day begun the fourth Book,1 from the Astern™
Mahometan Conquest of Egypt, to the Recapture of Dami- church."
etta by the Saracens — 634-1223. I know you are afraid
that I shall take an Oriental view, i.e. I suppose so Oriental
that it will cease to be Catholick. I hope not. At the
same time, without becoming a shade more Anglican, I do
see more and more clearly that the High Papal Theory is
quite untenable : as, for example, when the British Critic
speaks of Gallicanism as "the cold and selfish daughter
of the Sorbonne." I cannot make, as Montalembert does,
visible union, or as the B. C. sometimes seemed to wish
to do, the desire for visible union with the Chair ofchairof
St. Peter, the key-stone as it were, of the Church, at least
not in the sense in which the Western Church has some
times done. We Orientals take a more general view. The
Rock on which the Church is built is S. Peter, but it is a
triple Rock, Antioch where he sat, Alexandria which he
superintended, Rome where he suffered. You would be
astonished at the weight of evidence in Doctors of the
Western Church. By-the-bye, I must have you congratu
late me on a Library turning up here. The Rector of the
Seminary here has very kindly asked me to make any use
I please of theirs, and it is a very good one, the edition of
the Fathers particularly valuable. Is not this more than
fortunate ? My chief difficulty at present has been what
view to take of the second Nicene Council. You must
remember that neither in the East nor in the West had I

1 " The Patriarchate of Alexandria," ii. 67-255.

70 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

anyone to whom I could look as a guide. I have drawn

up on a separate piece of paper what I think to do with

respect to it, and if Dr. Mill will read it over and let me

have his opinion of it I should be very much obliged to him.

Mont- Montalembert has read " Hierologus " and is delighted with

Si11*'* *tj anc* more particularly with the parts relating to Abbeys,

"Hiero- which I take as a great compliment, seeing that he has

logus." studied the subject so deeply, and visited Cistercian Houses

from Sweden to the Tagus for his Life of S. Bernard. By

the way, you have no idea what an immense quantity of

facts I have gleaned from French books for a second

edition of " Durandus."

Here follow examples with drawings.

Santa Prisca (Jan. i8th).

Newman's ... I am disgusted with the Article in the last Christian
Sermons. Remembrancer on Newman's Sermons.1 In our own Com
munion, I look on Andrewes and Taylor as superior to him
as one man can be to another ; and out of it, how could they
have forgotten S. Francis de Sales, to mention no other ?

To B. W. Candlemas (S. Blaise), 1844. Santa Luzia.

I hope and trust you are not going to Oxonianize. It
is clear to me, that the Tract writers missed one great
principle, namely the influence of Aestheticks, and it is
unworthy of them to blind themselves to it. Don't you see,
Pusey on that as you relate its contents Pusey's letter confounds two
holders. tm'ngs ? " Have we," he says, " that purity of heart and life
which can fit us to be great Church builders in a Catholick
sense ? " Don't you see, that you or I, or Paley, never set up
to be able to be Catholick Architects ? Nay rather, have
not all our creative attempts, S. Albans, the New Zealand
Cathedral, etc., been failures ? So far I agree with him.
But it is absurd to say that it does not often please GOD
to raise up, as defenders of His truth, men even of im
moral lives : witness many of the Popes. If of His truth,
why not of His beauty ? Thus it is necessary that a

1 Christian Remembrancer, vii. 102-113.

THE PAPAL THEORY 71

S. Athanasius or S. Cyril should be men of eminent
personal holiness ; they were, for the first time, developing
truth. But it is not necessary that its mere defenders
should be so.

Feb. 26th, 1844.

We next come to the Papal Theory.1 I believe we
mean very much the same thing, although expressions may
seem different, else you would never talk of the possibility
of a second Nonjuring body, but rather think of a return to
Rome. But you do not know what the theory of the
Revivalists in France really is. I will send you a letter
I received a few days ago from Montalembert, written, you
will see, in as kind a spirit as possible, in which he frankly
says that he looks upon the English Church as one of the
worst forms of heresy he knows. And he is well acquainted
with it, and does not judge it from your tracts, etc. It is a
curious thing, that letter, sixteen large quarto pages closely
written. It is fair to say that he dislikes Gallicanism as Galli_
much, and will not hear of nationality in architecture, or canism.
in anything else. In the " History of Alexandria " you need
not be afraid of any anti-Romanism. For that Church and
Rome have always been as it were allies : and with the
exception of the Jesuits in Ethiopia and of one schismatical
proposal to the Jacobite Patriarch in the i6th century,
I am not aware that one has occasion to mention Rome
except with praise, or merely historically. As to Primitivism
commend me to " the large upper room " in the Protestant
and religious foundation of Downing. I don't care two
pence about the S.P.C.K. A society of that kind is
radically uncatholick, and may be expected to do anything.
I only wish I could send you, as a specimen of developed
Romanism, the " Annals of the Arch-Confraternity of the
Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary," established in spite
of the Archbishop, in Paris, " for the conversion of sinners,"
and publishing reports of their conversion by both lay and
ecclesiastical members. I never read anything to match
it, except in the Methodist Magazine. Pray, has marriage

1 See Christian Remembrancer, iii. 422-434 ; and vi. 353-372.

72 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

made a difference in my whole theology ? However, I
agree that it does to most. . . .

I am delighted about the sale of " Durandus," because
it gives me fresh courage for the Appendix. If the Catena
is not proof positive, I don't know what can be. I will
prove it in every half century, and in every Western Church,
Africa included. Wherein is Rio more objectionable than
A. F. Rio. Montalembert ? The latter wishes Rio l to be proposed ;
whether Rio knows of it, I can't say. Montalembert may
perhaps leave to-morrow, but I hope not. I look upon him
as far above Pugin, as Pugin is above Carpenter : though it
takes longer to find it out. How can people talk so of
Southey ? — the man who " never was guilty of thinking
about, far less writing on, Baptismal Regeneration." I am
delighted to hear of your intimacy with Pusey, and much
like his idea of books of devotion of foreign Catholicks — but
why not first of all from S. Francis de Sales, and S. Thomas
de Villanova ?

To B. W. Feb. 29th, 1844. Santa Luzia.

. . . Count Montalembert has just published, in Portu
guese, a little book, against the Bibles and Tracts dis
tributed by strangers ; which, I imagine, he wished the
Clergy to distribute this Lent to their penitents. But it
is too ultra-montane for Fa,2 and I imagine will be so for
many. He has got into bad odour, in fact, for his Con
fraternity of the Heart of Mary, which seems to be, in its
principles, as schismatical as a class meeting : I am sure in
its working it is as profane. I think it very possible that
we may publish a paper on the subject ourselves.

To B. W. March nth, 1844. Santa Luzia.

. I am much obliged to Dr. Mill. Of course, during
the periods where Alexandrian History is almost the same
with that of the Catholick Church, such as in the Arian,
Nestorian, and Monophysite controversies, I can only write

1 Rio on " Christian Art." Reviews in Ecclesiologist, xviii. 43 ; and
Christian Remembrancer, xxxiv. 267-299.

2 The Portuguese Padre.

TOUR IN MADEIRA 73

popularly, but all after Mahomet will — I trust — be of a much
higher character. I wish Dr. Mill would give me his opinion
as to the propriety of applying the term " Church " to any The term
body having Apostolick Succession, I. schismatical but not
heretical, as the Donatists or Meletians ; 2. heretical, but
not schismatical, as the Aethiopian Jacobites and Nubians ;
3. both heretical and schismatical, as the Aegyptian Jaco
bites. Last week, Landon and I were out on a tour. Friday
we started at nine : rode through the magnificent Serra
d'Agua, and reached Santo Vincente at six, where we slept.
Saturday we left about eight, and rode up the more magnifi
cent Ribeira de Boaventura, the beauty of which surpasses
anything I could have conceived, except in Heaven. It is
a ride which from its intense labour, and the fearful nature
of the road, very few take. We were eleven hours on horse
back or foot, with only half an hour's halt. In one
tremendous pass, with a precipice above and below, is a
flight of ten or twelve steps, with water running down them.
In another place, the earth at the edge of the precipice
crumbled away, and one of my pony's hind legs went com
pletely over. About five, we emerged at the Torrinhas, at a
height of about 6000 feet, or nearly so ; the air delightfully
fresh, but not cold : seeing from sea to sea, down the Boa
ventura one way ; down the Curral the other. Then we
descended into the Curral, and while it was dark with us,
the lingering of the sunlight on the mountains was lovely.
We reached the Curral Church at seven ; found the Priest
gone to bed, and inhospitable: but were taken in by a
cottager, and slept in his little cottage, put together of
rough stones, with an open thatch roof. Landon and I lay
down on one bed, our servants on another, the horses
were tethered outside, and the family turned out into
another cottage. Next morning (Sunday), started a little
after six : when within two miles of home, my pony (he could
get no corn the night before) fairly knocked up, and I had
to walk in. So I had four hours' ride (and such a ride !)
and walk before breakfast, but was not at all knocked up.

Mrs. Neale, senior, was at this time living at Brighton.
After their return from their second winter at Madeira her

74 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

son and his wife stayed with her. Their first child, Agnes,
was born there on August 6th, 1844.

To B. W. July 9th, 1844. Brighton.

... I hear from Wheeler, who is good authority,
some very unpleasant reports about Newman. I had read
almost all " Coningsby," and am much disappointed in it,
that is, as an expression of young England. The novel
that seems likely to do good is " Ellen Middleton."
Singular that Keble should once have suggested to me
the same subject, Confession, for a novel.

To B. W. S. Augustine, B. (Aug. 28th), 1844. Brighton.

... I will not repeat to you the success of my
enquiries at Alexandria, and the compliments I have had
from the Episcopos of the Catholic Convent of Alexandria.
If you return l by Geneva you may do me a great service.
I am in correspondence with G. Diodati, Librarian of
the " Library of the Republick," and he is to get for me
copies of the uncopied letters of poor Cyril Lucar which
are kept there. If you could pay him what may be due,
and bring the letters with you, I should be very glad.
Cyril You might send him a line, fixing the time of your being
Lucar. there ; and asking him to have the copies ready. This
also : ask to see Cyril's Confession of Faith, I mean the
original MS. If it is not forthcoming, hint that many,
Romanists as well as Orientals, believe it to have been a
Genevan forgery : and see what he says. I am, as people
Books say, overwhelmed with business, (i) I have just finished
printing. the « jriumphs of the Cross," a sort of first steps in Hagio-
logy. I shall send one, all well, to your little sister. (2)
Deck is publishing " Ballads for Manufacturers." (3)
Walters, "Mirror of Faith." (4) Walters and Cleaver,
" Shepperton Manor." (5) Walters, " Poynings," a sort of tale
for his Juvenile Library on the Revolution. (6) Walters,
" History of England for Children," this is done to the
Reformation. (7) Walters, a little Portuguese book. (8)
Walters, " Virgin Saints."

1 Mr. Webb was abroad at this time.

STORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL 75

B.'s conversion, which is not yet in the papers, is
lamentable ; and shews that Aesthetics may be dangerous
to a mind like his, though the most deplorable thing
is his want of feeling, and frivolity. If the change were
never so right, it would still be awful.

You will not need reminding to look out for Greek
books at Venice. If you fall in with any Greeks there,
try to discover what is the modern Oriental view of Cyril
Lucar. The Russian view we know from Mouravieff.

To B. W. Sept. 6th, 1844. Brighton.

Last Tuesday, as I said, was the Christening : it was First
very satisfactory on the whole. Two priests and a deacon ™^tir
officiated, and there were six other priests present. That Dr.
morning I sat a long time with Dr. Pusey, who is just the Pusey-
man I fancied, and among other things, we spoke a good
deal of " Durandus." I could not wish any man to be more
aesthetic than he is. How different from Newman ! . . .

I must tell you a most remarkable supernatural in- story of
terference which has just come to my knowledge through
friends of the parties concerned. l A lady and gentleman,
Deists in belief, lived in a lonely house near town, with one
other equally lonely house at a short distance from them.
They were going to give a party ; and the same morning
a most extraordinary ringing of all the bells was heard.
The lady desired that it might cease ; the servants assured
her that the bells rang of themselves. The wires were cut,
and still the bells rang, and went on ringing. When the
guests arrived, the lady was so terrified that she besought
them to stay, said she could make up beds, and so on.
They did : and the bells rang the whole night. Next
morning they heard that their neighbour's house had been
broken into, and a murder committed ; and they afterwards
found out that the thieves had previously intended to attack
their own house, but had been prevented by the number of
visitors that stayed, and of bells that rang. The parties con
cerned gave up Deism and became penitents. Is not this one
of the most remarkable things in that way you ever heard ?
1 See his " Unseen World," p. 145. 1847. Burns.

CHAPTER VII

1844-46

NEWMAN'S SECESSION — EASTER IN MADEIRA — MORE
SECESSIONS

It matters little where we work, if God's the work we do, —

It matters little whom we fight, — if many or if few ;

The soldiers form one selfsame host, tho' scattered far apart ;

The labourers may be wide dispersed, who yet have all one heart.

WITH the next letters, written during 1844-45, will be
found some of Mr. Webb's answers, as they bring back
vividly the time of storm and stress, of doubt and fear,
which shook the English Church at the time of Newman's
secession.

To B. W. 20th Sunday after Trinity, 1844. Brighton.

. . . You cannot tell how painful it is to me to receive

such letters as part of yours of this morning. If you could

but see how utterly and totally and miserably unworthy

I am to work with the rest of us in Church matters, you

would not write in the same strain. This is one harm of

Protest writing books, they make people think so much better

depreca- Qf Qne ^^ Qne <-ieserveSj ancj j sometimes fear lest the

praise. ex ore tuo te judicabo ignave serve, may not in That Day
be said to me. All this only by way of beginning and
entreating you not to write in that manner again, for I
cannot bear it.

You will receive " Shepperton Manor " in a day or two.
I have no doubt that Stokes1 and that class of men will
call it unCatholick, and say I am going back. I write,

1 One of the early members of the C.C.S., see p. 16.

CRITICISM OF " SHEPPERTON MANOR " 77

therefore, to explain to you what I meant. I know you Anglo
do not think that Anglo- Romanists are in schism, or that Romanists
they should join us. You know that I do : and the tale
turns on that hypothesis. I may be wrong ; if I am, I
shall be most willing to be set right ; anyhow my story
can do no harm. I will not, nor is it intended to, persuade
men who hold in this particular with Ward, that Romanists
in England are in schism : but it may do some good to
High Churchmen if it lead them to see how utterly little
is the sin of that schism, and to Protestants it might do
still more good. Read the Preface before you read the
book, I hope you will think it a true picture of the state
of the Jacobean Church.

From B. W. to J. M. N. Nov. loth, 1844. Cambridge.

I have just finished " Shepperton Manor," and what
can I do better than begin a letter to its author ? I have
read it with much interest ; and with admiration for a great
deal which I can probably appreciate better than most. Still
it is the work of an Anglican : I mean in its deepest spirit.
For of course the discussion about Purgatory is obviously
so. Not one hint of our Blessed Lady from one end to
the other ! However would that all Anglicans were equally
just and loving. But I scarcely know why I call you
Anglican, as if I were otherwise. It is not indeed as if
I did not acknowledge your far greater acquaintance with
these subjects than I possess. But I sometimes fear that
we shall not always think the same. I fancy the last week
has been one of unparalleled excitement and fear amongst
us Anglo-Catholicks here. Rumours from many different,
and those most authoritative, quarters had been about to Rumours
the effect that Newman had at last determined to secede, of New-
At last it got into the papers ; the Record and the like
reptiles gloated over the news ; consternation fell upon all
who had ever so little sympathy with Catholick principles.
Yesterday it was contradicted ; but I for one am persuaded
on the best authority that one need at no time be surprised
at the event. I know we do not feel quite alike about
this. I do not think I am prepared to follow him now ; but

78 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I should feel despair for any revival in our Communion.
To eject the holiest among us : to cripple every struggle
for anything high or noble by pointing to Newman : to
give strength and triumph to the Protestant principle — it
will be to lose the last remaining note. How could one
develop doctrine or practice, if one saw that the result
must be Rome, and that one was not prepared for such
a result ? It appears to me that one would have nothing
to do but to prepare oneself by hard penance to follow.
I'll tell you what I believe will be the result of all this.
Newman and almost all the true-hearted will secede, one
by one ; our Erastian establishment will go on in some
new vagary of Protestantism. The struggle will leave no
more trace than the Laudian, or Nonjuring. Happy if any
of those entangled in our net can save their souls by their
flounder to get free. It seems to me one had need hope
there is a Purgatory for our own sakes. You will see that
I take a very dismal view now : indeed there seems to
be no rainbow in the sky. Almost all I know seem to
be equally gloomy. Quid est veritas ? From what I have
observed I do not think very many would accompany
Newman at once. The Record computes that about 100
will from Oxford and Cambridge, etc. They are about
right, I should say. Very few beneficed or married men
would go. Curates and barristers and men like Lord John
Manners might go. It is said that the latter could carry
over with him at least half of his father's tenantry. How
ever, pride, timidity, and love of ease would keep back
many, and myself among the number. I am astonished
to find so many who seem ready to swallow the whole
Roman system, if need be, in spite of the hard points it
may have.

During his third and last visit to Madeira the following
letters were written : —

To B. W. S. Leonard (Nov. 6th), 1844. Funchal.

You would rather have a line from me than nothing,
so I just write to say by God's goodness we arrived
at ten this morning quite safely. We had a very rough

ANSWER TO CRITICISM 79

passage : in a gale off Portugal our mainsail was blown
to tatters. We were not quite fourteen days, and when sea- Voyage
sickness was over, had Daily Service morning and evening,
by Guillemard, a rather fair man.

I have read Ward, and think all the parts treating on
the present Roman system of devotion most edifying and
beautiful. But I can't take in his theory, at least at present.
However I like the book much better than I expected,
though some of his arguments seem to me very poor, and
one or two false. But it must be the reader's fault if he
does not learn very much from it. When I say I have
read it, I must exclude the chapter on Justification, which
required more thought than I could give at the time, it
blowing very hard : but I mean to read it, all well.

To B. W. Nov. 26th, 1844. Madeira.

The steamer came in this morning. Thank you for
your letter. The report about Newman has made us all
very uneasy ; there was quite a collection of us in Phelps'
counting-house to-day while the papers were being opened.
Now to answer your letter in order. About "Shepperton
Manor." I allow it to be more Anglican than anything which
perhaps you would have written. But I do not see how
I could have introduced much which I believe and which
is not Anglican — how rather, — to make the story what I
designed it, a picture of our Church at that time — I could
help suppressing much on which I would fain have dwelt. It
is not more Anglican than the Hier. Anglicana. To have
made S. Francis teach Our Lady, would have been useless,
as it would not have seemed my own teaching. To have
made Dr. Linton do it, or Bishop Andrewes, would have
been notoriously false. I do not believe that there is any
real difference between us. If there is, it is theoretical
entirely. You think that the R.C. in England is not in Position of
schism, but that those of us who join them nevertheless R-c in
do wrong. I think them in schism, allotting the very
smallest possible degree of guilt to that word of which it
is capable. If indeed it is ruled by Schoolmen that schism

8o LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

must in all cases be a mortal sin (which I am not casuist
enough to know), then I do not think them schismatics.
At all events, I have never said so, except in writing to
such as you. After all, I believe that till it pleases GOD
to clear up our way, this is a very immaterial difference.

You cannot doubt S. Cyprian would be on my side.
I cannot doubt S. Peter Damian would be on yours. And
whatever I have learnt to believe on this matter, I have
learnt, not from Anglican writers — you cannot abhor them
more than I do — but from such men as Querini, and Cardinal
Bessarion, and Pereira, and, above all, from the Fathers
of Constance and Basle. With the single exception of the
denial of the Cup to the laity, I believe that I could sign
all the decrees of these Councils. But do not do me the
injustice to think that I do not hold the duty of prayers
for the dead, and the development of the Communion of
Saints as strongly as anyone, though I should always
be careful at present of printing anything on the latter
subject, because I feel that the time may come when I
may more practically embrace it.

But this is very egotistic, and I must be a little more
so yet. I wish you would read over that part of my
"History of England"1 which reaches from the Reformation
to the end of Elizabeth, and particularly notice if you
think my account of Cranmer's death too harsh : and if
you approve of what I have said as to the punishment of
hereticks. I hope and believe that Newman will not leave
us ; but I should not despair if he did. My sheet anchor
of hope for the English Church is, that you cannot point
out a single instance of an heretical or schismatical body
which after apparent death awoke to life.

The Donatists might have done it, the Copts might
have done it, the Nestorians might have done it, but they
have not. Why should there be such a startling anomaly
to all past experience first of all exhibited in the
century ?

1 " History of England for Children." Master?.

MORE SECESSIONS 81

To B. W. S. Stephen (Dec. 26th), 1844. Madeira.

... I have not told you how greatly I delighted in
the " Paradisus." I wish you would send me out another
copy. . . . My two great difficulties now seem to be, the
principle of the Invocation of Saints 1 generally, and how On the
far, and in what sense, S. Mary is a Channel of Grace. ^^^°
Intellectually or objectively, I could go along with the
" Paradisus,"— but subjectively, I shrink from it. This may
be, and probably is, my own fault : but the belief that it is,
does not make the difficulty less. One thing is clear, that
while one has the slightest doubt of the propriety of any
invocation, to use it is wrong : and that is the only thing
which does seem to me clear in the whole subject. I wish
you would let me hear what your feelings are in the matter —
for here I have no one that can feel for, or with, me in it.

From B. W. to J. M. N.

S. Sylvester (Dec. 3ist), 1844. Doctors' Commons.

. . . Now we fear for the worst. I want you to look
this in the face : that in twelve months, if we live, we may
perchance be in the Roman Church. We must be prepared
for some such emergency ; for who could think again of
nonjuring ? Yet, on the other hand, this may be only
another trial of our faith. GOD may set us free from this
danger, and then we shall be more strong than ever. But
indeed things are in a dreadful state. The laity are rising
to a man against us. Sometimes I think it a note against Webb.s
us that such crowds are converted to sheer Romanism, pessimistic
while so few become of us : as if " stammering formularies " views-
were thus warned to give way to a consistent intelligible
system of truth. In the meantime our own jealousies and
contentions increase : no one sympathizes with another :
there is no obedience and no charity. The Bishop of
Exeter starts up (as you would say) bishopfully ; is snubbed
and resisted, and gives up his point. The Sunday papers
placarded one week " Cardinal Wolsey revived." The next
week the placard was " Cardinal Wolsey fallen." Wherever

1 Christian Remembrancer^ i. 1 5-24.

82 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I have been in London I have found the greatest anxiety
prevailing: each shade of opinion throws all the blame
upon others. We poor aesthetical fellows get kicks from
all. That indeed is one point pretty fully agreed upon by
Hookites, Manningites, Puseyites, Oakleyites, Dodsworthites,
Ironsites, etc., etc. One uses the names for distinctions'
sake. Qtwt homines — tot sententiae : we must not forget
Camdenites. But, on the other hand, Dr. Pusey seems to
be more than ever inclined to think well of us ; and he
yields to none in saintliness.

To B. W. Feb. loth, 1845. Madeira.

I am waiting anxiously for your next letter, which was
due yesterday. I will write to you no more about Rome
because I shall run the risk of your misunderstanding me,
and creating a difference where there is none. It must
always be so in writing, and at a distance. The comfort
is that such differences vanish when one comes to talk, like
S. Athanasius and the supporters of the One and of the
Three Hypostases. I was much interested in what you say
of Dyce. You say, very truly, that unless we work together
at it, the " Theoria " will never come out. That, I will hope,
we shall be able to arrange.

Hospital. To-day I was over the Santa Casa de Misericordia,
the largest Hospital in the place, and a most edifying sight
it was. The cleanness and airiness of the rooms were like
England : but not like England was the Altar and the
Crucifix in the larger wards, and the Patron Saint of each.
S. Isabel for the women, S. Sebastian for the men, and so
on. There are but two lunaticks : for Madeira, with all its
faults, is Catholick. I never happened to have seen one
before ; and it seemed a bitter degradation of the Church,
that her Priests have not the power of casting out evil
spirits from them.

Easter Eve.

Service of Last night I went up to the Mount Church to see the
Descent Descent from the Cross. It is a thing, I think, fairly open
Cross. to criticism, as not being approved by the Church, but

HOLY WEEK IN MADEIRA 83

simply allowed in some few places. You know the noble
situation of the Church, 1760 feet above the sea, and the
feeling at that height and time, was that of an English
evening in May. The noble flight of steps up to the church
was alive with people, and alas ! all kinds of buying and
selling were going on close to the door. A curtain was
hanging overhead, and the Vicar preaching to a crowded
congregation. And very well he did preach too, though
one could not but marvel at the contrast between such a
Passion sermon and one in England. The people sobbed
and cried, and the whole church was rilled with a sound
which it is impossible to describe, — more like that attending
an unpopular candidate on the hustings than anything else
that occurs to me. " Peter wept bitterly," said the preacher,
"and is there anyone here that weeps not! If there be
— out, out of the Church at once ; let him not dare to look
on this spectacle : they are bringing the nails, the hammer,
the Crown of Thorns, — the Saviour of the World is fastened
to the Cross. Behold the Man ! " And, amidst a perfect
agony of weeping the curtain drew up. The taking down
from the Cross is then gone through by persons dressed in
character ; they dress in the Sacristy, and their dresses are
most wretched — horsetails for beards, etc. The bier is
then borne in torchlight procession, among the wild defiles
of the " Curral dos Romeiros," " the Pilgrim's Fold,"— and
the service concludes with another sermon. The Procession
to the Cathedral of the Interment of our LORD was the
best I have yet seen — the soldiers with arms reversed, the
Canons in the deepest mourning, their long trains attended
by an Acolyte. The Bishop has already done much here :
I hear that no meat — except, alas! for the English — was
killed during Holy Week, and fish has been bought much
more rapidly. The seriousness and attention of the people
is greater, and more is done for them. Yesterday, e.g.,
there were eleven sermons : four at the Cathedral ; three
at N. S. de Monte ; three at S. Antonio, and one at S. Clara.
I was not at the Alleluia this morning, that the servants
might go, but it was very beautiful when the wind brought
up the first burst of bells that told of Lent's being over.

84 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I want to protest most strongly against forming an
Architectural Society out of our ruins. People will ignorantly
think that our religious views are given up, and our Archi
tectural retained — as if the two were separable.

Easter Monday.

The mail anticipated its time to-day. ... I am more
and more averse to the dissolution of the Society. I should
like to be freed from an University yoke, and then set
going again. Proxies being admissible you may have
mine and Landon's ; but don't abuse them, because, if
without giving up any principle, the C.C.S. can be organized
again, we should vote for that ; if not (but only if not) for
dissolution. A truly Camdenic mistake is yours, " a biting
East wind-ow."

To B. W. All Saints' Day, 1845. Reigate.

Your news about Cambridge matters grieves me much,
and I should feel some difficulty how to deal with those
whose secession you fear. At the same time, I feel that
Secession, if they do go, they will be less excusable than the Oxford
Seceders. They have not to contend against Newman's
immense personal influence. They have not been irritated
(except Stokes) by personal persecution. They have not,
it appears to me, a single reason for going now, that they
had not when the Altar Case was decided. They do not
even know (which doubtless the Oxford Seceders do) the
particular train of argument by which Newman reached his
present conviction. I do not think that any of them could
give a straightforward answer to the question, why are you
going now ? To my mind, the great argument against
leaving our Church is that which Pusey so well puts forward
in his August letter, and which has always — and the more
— the more I have read of Church History, kept me the
more from wavering. But again, I do think that the
present divisions of the Romanists in England are very
startling : the unfair character of their English contro
versial writers more so — the crooked ways in which men,

SECESSIONS 85

e.g. Oakeley and Ward, have left us, by no means edifying.
I fear that Stokes takes up with the ground, " others may
be safe in the English Church, I can only be so in the
Roman." He is not going from a good thing to a better.
If he is right in leaving us, we are in damnable schism.
There can be no half ground. But then, if we are right
in staying, what is he in going ? He goes, he says, because
Newman goes. Then in common fairness he is bound to
stay till he sees why Newman does go. In prudence, I
think a man desirous of seceding should wait to see what
becomes of the Seceder. We hear no such enviable accounts
of their feelings.

I did read the article in the Tablet, and thought but
little of it It makes conversion a simple intellectual
process. Celasti ea ab infantibus, et revelasti sapientibus1
is their reading.

Oct. 1 9th, 1845. Reigate.

MY DEAR B.,

As you do not see The English Churchman, you
have probably not read Dr. Pusey's letter on Newman's
secession. Let me have it back again. I cannot pretend
to agree with it, because if the step was not right it must
have been very wrong ; but no one can help admiring its
spirit. You see that no one of importance that I know of
has gone.

I think Dr. Pusey's letter goes too much on the hypo
thesis that GOD cannot raise up some one of Newman's
talents in our Church, or do His own work without them.

As to me, this event can have no influence, excepting Loyalty
that naturally, when one's mother is betrayed, however
weakly or wickedly she may have acted (which yet in this
case I do not see that our Church as a Church has done)
one is more desirous than ever of working for her and
serving her.

1 S. Luke x. 21.

86 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W.

24th Sunday after Trinity, Nov. 2nd, 1845. Reigate.

I do not see how if Stokes leaves us, either he could
work with us or we with him. Not he with us, because he
must feel that our views are the only thing which can
prevent the R.C. Church from obtaining England ; and he
could hardly wish to help its (in that sense) worst enemies ;
nor we with him : because I really think that we must
separate from those who leave us. It is almost an insult
to our Church to co-operate with those who, having been
brought up within her, anathematize her. But, however,
Stokes, I feel sure, would never consent even if we did.
I do not exactly see what his leaving us, if he do leave
us, which GOD forbid, has to do with our monthly ap
pearance. He will be an irreparable loss ; but not more
so to a monthly than to a bimestral magazine. Besides,
remember that the Ecclesiologist acquired its present stand
ing without him : without him, therefore, it may retain it.
In this case you will have to write on Altars ; for it must
be written, and no one else can do it.

To B. W. Nov. 5th, 1845. Reigate.

Arrange- Stokes was to have written about Altars. That you

^Ecdesio- must do. It is an article addressed to Romanizers, to shew
legist. that pace Foster, the Church does hold them. Till that is
done, mine on the Communion Office will be out of place.
First leader, yours on Altars ; second, mine on Schools ;
third, Hope's on Pugin's Churches.1 (I mention his third,
as being more in the nature of a review.) Paley must not
write anything very important this time: it will be a
wretched number, more so if any men leave us. If there
be any secession from Cambridge of men notoriously Cam-
denic, I would, as I always would, take the bull by the
horns, and mention the subject bravely. I wish your sug
gestion were carried out, about the same prayers at the
same times. Very short : one Kyrie, one Pater, one Psalm,
one Capitulum, one Collect.

1 "The artistic merit of Mr. Pugin," Ecclesiologist, v. 10-16.

SECESSIONS 87

This matter about Hope I want settled ; for just now
when we shall all have to pull together, one does not like,
in any respect, to feel estranged from a man, however little.
If one is to have a quarrel now and then, we will choose
a time of peace.

I am sure no man ought to leave us till he has been
in the practice of regular confession : I think one has a
right to expect that. They cannot say that Confession is
an invention of some people in our Church : it is plain
that she has never surrendered it.

I am very anxious about this next Ecclesiologist. . . .
If we can only get through this next month we shall do.
We shall do, I know that ; but I mean, shall get on without
a very evident retrogression.

From B. W. to J. M. N. Nov. 7th, 1845. London.

I cannot rouse Dr. Mill about Stokes. He says he
has obviously made the plunge, and now assumes the Ultra-
Roman argument, from which no one can be argued ; any
more than we can be reasoned from our present defences.
Dr. M. is in a kind of despair. I have heard a great deal
about Newman and his book : things which stagger one.
Wiseman has converted him. An Article of his in the Newman's
Dublin in 1839 first shook N. Newman's article in Jan., ^'nEssay
1840, in British Critic^ on "The Catholicity of the English Deveiop-
Church," was only his own endeavour to persuade himself, ment of
The Jerusalem Bishopric was the cotip de grace. He now
professes that if an English Synod had met and signed
unanimously to submit unconditionally to Rome, he would
have gone over all the same. He will try to prove histori
cally that we committed a formal act of schism at the
Reformation, which would invalidate even Andrewes' holi
ness. But the book will soon be out. It is supposed that
many are only waiting for its appearance, to be convinced
by it. Do not you tremble at the thought of it ? Suppose
the book should convince us ?

88 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. Nov. 8th, 1845. Reigate.

No fear of If you think this letter could possibly do any good,

Newman's ^^ .^ tQ Stokes . jf notj put jt jn the fire<

I must answer one or two necessary questions in your
letter. As to Newman's book. I am so thoroughly and
morally persuaded of the defensibility of our position, that
if I were to feel shaken by its beginning, I would shut up
the book. I cannot express to you the firmness of my
conviction. It seems to grow upon me the more the others
waver.

I do not like Bennett, and I still less like his harsh
way of speaking, but I am persuaded that his view is right.
I cannot see how the other view can logically lead to any
thing but going to our " fellows." Of course, I would not
for the world mention this to such an one as Hope.
Division Paley, as you say, would go as likely as not. How

>f fnends. yery pajnfuj jt WOuld be if you and I should have to try
our strength against him and Stokes ! constantly knowing
who was writing on the other side, and reminded by many
little touches of our former friends.1 However, that makes
no difference. If it be so, we must do our best. By the
way, suppose they two were to go, and were to publish an
Ecclesiologist, what right have we to say that we are the
genuine Ecclesiologist ?

It would be too bad if Rome now yields the marriage
of priests, and both kinds. That would once have saved,
if not England, the greater part of Germany. But I can
hardly think it. As to Newman's book, I merely meant that
were I isolated among Protestants I would not read it under
the circumstances mentioned. Of course, now it would be
absurd. As to the Vineyard,2 if you can make a logical
way plain by which I can hold your opinion and yet remain,
well and good. But I never even heard this attempted.

1 Cp. Christian Remembrancer, ix. 577-580, and Ecclesiologist, iv.
to end, and Christian Remembrancer, x. 213-220.

2 Dr. Pusey's view of Newman's secession — " being called to
another part of the Lord's Vineyard," p. 143.

NEWMANS DOCTRINE OF DEVELOPMENT 89

From B. W. to J. M. N. Nov. 8th, 1845. London.

Your letter to Stokes is excellent. I have derived
great profit from it myself. ^ I cannot agree with you about
Newman's book. Surely we are all in quest of truth only.
Prepare yourself for a new reasoning on the Donatist ques
tion in N.'s book. This seemed to arouse even Dr. Mill ;
who probably could alone answer it. Do not think so of
the " Vineyard " men. If your view be true, you will find
yourself alone in the E. Church before long.

To B. W. Advent Eve, 1845. Reigate.

I was glad to hear the opinion of Newman's book. I
cannot imagine how anyone can imagine him to hold a view
compatible, for a moment, with Bishop Bull. It strikes me
that he does not openly attack him, simply from the desire
of not scandalizing Anglicans. The test way appears to
me very unfair. Of course, N. would naturally choose such
tests only as suited his purpose. Suppose we were to add Remarks
an eighth test — that of worldly advantage — and prove that ™ ^
doctrinal developments closely connected with this were, in deveiop-
fact, corruptions. Would not this be a very fair one ? and ment-
which way would it tell ? l

What I also object to, is N.'s constant reference to his
own past works. He means of course to say : " You, the
reader, believe now what I believed then : develop as I
do, and you will in time think as I do now." And doubtless,
so far as his extracts go, we do hold now what he did.
But there is another element in his then opinions which we
never had — his exceeding hatred to Rome. And that may,
almost unconsciously to himself, have made him what he
is, on the principle of desire to reverse a wrong. So that I
am more than ever inclined to go with Hope's theory, and
believe that the first generation of reformers may perhaps
be absorbed by Rome : but that the second will remain in
our Church and renovate it. I don't care what Irons or
anyone else thinks. I am quite sure that if we don't desert
ourselves, GOD will not desert us. If you all go, I shall

1 Christian Remembrancer , xiii. 117-265.

90 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

stay. If Andrewes is not saved (who had far less reason
than we have to remain) there are so few that will be, that
really, it can little matter whether one goes or not.

From B. W. to J. M. N.

Advent Eve and Vigil of S. Andrew. London.

Your second letter has just come. It quite makes me
cheerful. Your notion about Andrewes has occurred to me
several times lately. I was telling Butterfield that it could
not possibly be that an English ploughman's salvation
depended on Newman's book. Dr. Mill seemed in better
spirits this morning ; and I was cheerful till post, which
brought me miserable news from Cambridge.

To B. W. Christmas Day, 1845. Reigate ; I mean Redhill.

I have just returned from the most miserable office I
ever saw. Besides my own people, and Mrs. Pullen, there
were but two others ! And what confirms me in my opinion
of P. is the time-serving way in which he talked to me on
the importance of forms, and the false reason he gave for
the thinness of his Communion attendance. " You see they
Duty of are used to the Mother Church. I do not like to say any-
helping thing against it." However, I have no doubt as to my
Church people's duty, nor as to my own, namely, to help him while
I am here. If the Church is weak in this place, the more
reason one should do what one can to strengthen it. It
would be just as reasonable if I were a general in a battle
to send no assistance to a hard-pressed regiment, because
I knew the Colonel to be a traitor, as to do nothing for P.
because I grievously suspect him to be the same.
Difference As to my hypothesis, it is this. You will not own the
between great difference between Mediaeval Romanism and Modern

Mediaeval **

and Romanism ; between S. Wilfred and Dr. Wiseman ; between

Modem 3. Malachy and Oscott. Therefore remember, whatever

*mman~ in the "Virgin Saints"1 I say which is favourable to that

Romanism, is not necessarily so to this. I have held just

the same belief I now hold for more than three years, and

1 "Annals of Virgin Saints." Masters.

KENT CHURCHES 91

am daily more convinced that it is a tenable hypothesis, to
say the least. I see no contrariety in believing, as I firmly
do, that Romanists are in schism here, and writing as
strongly against the Reformation as I have done in the life
of S. Catherine di Ricci (which you read), and I believe
that no English Priest, not excepting Ward, ever wrote or
felt more strongly against it.

I wish you had been with me yesterday. I left here
at ten : to Edenbridge by the train, and then went South.
Edenbridge Church has a square Perpendicular cover to a
square Early English Font which might be taken for a
model in that case. Here was an Ecclesiologist, busy with
his note-book. A regular Kentish Church it is. Then down
over some five miles of hilly country to Cowden, the only
shingle tower I ever saw — and the effect is very good.
After this, West, along the borders of Kent and Sussex,
sometimes in one, sometimes in the other. At length the
Kent-water forms the boundary — and a most picturesque
division it is ; sometimes spreading itself out like a lake
between the Sussex lawns and the Kent rocks ; sometimes
contracting into a waterfall, through a gorge overhung with
trees and forming a pool shaded with hazels. Just before
you come to a farm called Withers, you cross a brook, and
enter Surrey ; another brook separates you from Sussex,
and the three join at the corner of an orchard. Then I
came up through lanes almost pathless from their muddi-
ness to Edenbridge again ; and returned by train.

To Rev. E. J. BOYCE.

Candlemas Day (Feb. 2nd), 1846. Reigate.

MY DEAR BOYCE,

I am afraid that I must content myself with a
short answer to a long letter. I am sorry you should think
that I do not sympathize with your difficulties, both for my
sake and for your own. I will venture to say that none of
your friends does so more. There is something in differ
ence of minds. I, for one, should feel it a greater stimulus Criticism
to exertion to be shewn how much I yet wanted to perfec- stimulus.
tion, than to be spoken to of the advances I had already

92 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

made. It may not be so with you. No one has oftener, I
suppose, dwelt on what you have already done as a wonder
ful instance of what a priest relying (if not so entirely as I
could wish, the marvel is the greater) on the Church's
strength has been able, in spite of unusual difficulties, to
effect. It is an example which I can never forget, and
which I pray that I may be able to imitate. What I said
was said generally. I do acknowledge the great rise of
Church feeling. It is the LORD'S doing/and it is marvellous
in our eyes. But still I wish to forget the things which are
behind. Only yesterday, in writing to Paley, I dwelt on
this onward movement as the strongest argument against
Rome. If I seemed to slight it to you, it is simply because
I am haunted day and night with a beautiful theory,
beneath which, oh how far, is our own present, and the
present Roman practice.

By the way, you sadly misunderstood my words. I
said that I could hardly bear to hear anyone speak either
very strongly against our Church, or very strongly for it.

GOD forbid that I should ever presume to despise a
day of small things. I am full of hope and cheerfulness
for our Church. With hard-working parish priests — even
though like you, they may, in my judgment, be mistaken
on some points, and want decision on others — we must
come right.

Draw up any formula you will of confidence in our
Church, and expectation that the glory of the second house
will exceed the glory of the first, and I will sign it. I have
said it, and written it, a hundred times.

You hardly seem to me to be able to put yourself into
the position of Romanizers among ourselves. I am per
suaded that a book, written in the spirit of the "Virgin
Saints " would be just the thing which might allure them
to stay, and that not a syllable in it could tempt anyone
to go. I wish, as a favour to me, you would read the lives
of S. Etheldreda, S. Opportuna, and the Conclusion.

In thinking of those who are working to the same end
as ourselves, I reckon you as one, and by no means the
least. You are far happier than we, in two respects : —

THE ECCLESIOLOGIST 93

1. That you are evidently where you have a call to be.
We may be mistaking our own fancies for a call to work.

2. That you are working in a place and manner where
you are not tempted to have any thoughts of self, whereas
we, who work more in the sight of men, are the more in
danger of that, and consequently having our reward
here. I do not think that anything I said on the subject

of the Intercession of S. Mary need have caused you pain, interces-
Why should you blame me for finding comfort in the g1
doctrine, more than I do you for rejecting it ? Our Church
says nothing one way or the other.

To B. W. ist Sunday in Lent, 1846. Reigate.

As you have now brought the question to a crisis,
by proposing to add Hope to the proprietors of the
Ecclesiologist to-morrow, I may as well explain to you
why I cannot consent that he should be added at present.
Every day I see more and more clearly, at our last meeting
most clearly of all, how thoroughly opposed he is to that
dogmatic spirit which I consider to be the life and soul of
the Ecclesiologist and of the C.C.S. I am sure he believes A protest
himself to be actuated by principle only. But I feel it to^n^a
be impossible for a man, unless he lives a truly ascetic life, mising
to move in the rank in which he moves, and to mix with sPirit-
high life, without being infected with the miserable com
promising spirit of the day. Dickinson is another instance.
Some day we shall, 6 jur) yivoiro, receive some serious harm
from those two men : though two better men do not exist.
Now, I cannot consent to have an element of compromise
introduced into the Ecclesiologist. Pace tua, you are not
wholly free from fault in that way : I am sure that you
would not, a year ago, have objected to the mixture in last
number, nor answer, as you have done the Altar question in
this. You will say that I am setting up myself as freer from
the fear of man than you and Hope are. Simply perhaps
because I live so much out of society : you yourself were
freer from it when you did. And after all, the thing is
more constitutional than moral. You will remind me that
two months ago, I myself proposed Hope. I did so : but

94 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

then I did not, in the first place, know how inveterate was
his spirit of compromise, and in the second, would have
done it as the less of two evils. If you have mentioned
this to Hope, tell him now that you are most willing to add
him, but that the fault is mine. He must give me credit
for meaning well.

To B. W. S. Mark (April 25th), 1846. Reigate.

I don't know what to say about your amended pro
position, except about the musical part, which is by all
means to be done. I know very well that we are deter
mined to make Edward VI.'s rubric bring in a Chasuble ;
the only question is, whether we are ripe for it. For a

Vestments. Cope there is no doubt we are. To begin with, a Cope
does not preclude, but rather exceedingly helps, getting
on to a Chasuble. And I certainly should like that
we should be the first to introduce the Cope. Another
objection to a Chasuble at first is, who is to provide a
suit of vestments ? and another, by what authority can
we pretend to maniples, if the thing came in question ?

Cope. A Chasuble involves a Cope ; I still think it would be better
to begin with that. Nevertheless, my dear Cousin,

" I, as a child, will go by thy direction."

All I bargain for is that, whatever we do be done as soon as
may be. S. James' Day, if you prefer it ; but not later than
that. The chanters may as easily be forthcoming soon as
late. The great use of a Cope is, it strikes me, to accustom
our people to coloured vestments ; once do that, and do it
on such irrefragible Anglican grounds as we have, and the
Chasuble follows without a difficulty.
Boyce is going to have Godalming.

CHAPTER VIII

1846-48

SACKVILLE COLLEGE — ISLE OF MAN — ORKNEYS

. . . We too are beginning a dangerous journey,

Dangerous and painful besides ; but the bright Home rises before us.

ON their return from Madeira Mr. and Mrs. Neale stayed
at Reigate and Redhill, his mother being settled in that
neighbourhood. Their only son was born on Good Friday,
1846, at Reigate, and in the following May J. M. Neale
was appointed Warden of Sackville College. The following
letter contains the first mention of the place which was his
home for twenty years, and the only piece of preferment
offered him in England.

To B. W. The Epiphany, 1846. Reigate.

I must tell you that I have a likelihood of getting a
little piece of " preferment," such as it is ; but it would
suit me. It is the Wardenship of Sackville College ', East
Grinstead — a Caroline foundation with Chapel and Refec
tory, wretchedly out of order, but capable (I hear) of great
things. The Warden's house is in the College, the value
£28. It is in the gift of the De la Warrs, and was first
offered to Anderson. Such a thing might quite realize
one's dreams of S. Cross. The foundation is for twenty-
four men.

There were twelve pensioners and about as many
probationers, the majority of them old women.

96 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. May 22nd, 1846. Sackville College.

We are now fairly in : my wife having come this after
noon. Everything, of course, has to be arranged, and
there is confusion from morn till night. I set up an Altar
yesterday, and have a very decent Litany desk, out of the
ruins of a stall. The more I see of the people, the more
I like them. . . . Agnes is delighted with the College, as
she well may be. My study looks respectable ; there are
seven hundred volumes up in it. Our dinners cannot begin
till Whitsunday. The intense trouble of my kitchen
restorations to that end, nobody can tell.

To B. W. May 25th, 1846. The College.

. . . We have had a somewhat serious misfortune. The
box containing all our plate was stolen from the waggon
that brought our things here. Among it was your Chalice
and Paten. I have written to Butterfield for another, which
of course is yours ; but I hope you will continue to lend it
me a little while, for I know not how to pay for two at
present.

If there is a set now unemployed that I could have
till the other is finished, it would be a great conveni
ence ; without it I cannot celebrate on Whit-Monday and
Tuesday.

To B. W. Undated. 1846.

Camdenic ... I have hardly told you how sincerely I congratulate

congratu- you on your engagement, and am almost afraid lest you

lations. should think that I care about it infinitely less than I do.

I feel so sure that Miss Mill and yourself are calculated

to make each other happy, and I think all your friends

may congratulate not only you, but themselves, and (which

is much more than either) their common cause, that you

have cast your lot with one who will be a help, and not

a hindrance to it. ... In short (to speak metaphorically),

the whole thing, both idea and details, is the finest Middle

Pointed ; and I know not anything that has pleased me

better for a long time.

ENGLISH ECCLESIOLOGY 97

To B. W. June 8th, 1846. Sackville College.

Now that, as I hope, I have broken the neck of our
" Hints," I must write about the way of publication. Who
is to take this ? I should propose that it be called " A
Handbook of English Ecclesiology " ; and should now be
advertised as such.1 I think our way of proceeding as to
correction will be this : the printer sends me a proof ; I
correct it, and forward it to you, you to Hope, he to
Dickinson, Dickinson to me. If you three are against me,
the passage is altered ; if Hope and Dickinson are against
me, you settle the dispute ; if you and I disagree, we will
settle it ourselves ; for we will have no arbiters. This in
volves the publication of it by the Society at its own risk,
because the corrections will probably be very expensive.
But money in this case is not the great object — reputation
is. We must do something to show that we are still working.
Now, shall I take the arrangement of publication, or will
you ? I should propose that it be the same size and type
as the " Triumphs of the Cross." It will then be rather
a larger book, perhaps 250 pages. I wish you would
write —

1 I ) of the vestments of Altars ;

(2) of returned stalls,

for I do not know enough.

To B. W. July 8th, 1846. Sackville College.

Hope's paper certainly will not do, so far as respects
the marriage of Priests. It is a subject open, I take it, Marriage
to enquiry, whether a Priest's wife has in our Church as
in the Eastern any distinctly Ecclesiastical character ; any
how, the matter is not to be disposed of so summarily.

To-day I have set up the stone mensa : for the first
time, vested in green. We got the red first, and so have
hitherto been of necessity incorrect.

1 See Christian Remembrancer, xiv. 452.

98 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W.

S. Lawrence (August roth), 1846. Sackville College.

One of the most wonderful Ecclesiologists that I ever
saw is now staying with us. It is Hayle, of Leeds, whose
name you know. I think he knows more facts than Sir
S. Glynne ; and he has them all arranged, so as to be
able to pour forth a flood of learning on any given subject.
I know not that I ever learnt so much from any one man
in the same time. He has particularly studied Lychno-
scopes, and has come to some odd conclusions upon them,
and has the most amazing series of examples possible. He
is to write four short letters to the Ecclesiologist on them.1
i. On single lychnoscopes. 2. On double. 3. On hagio
scopes as taken in connection with lychnoscopes. 4. On
some remarkable complications of piscinae with lychno-
Lychno- scopes. He holds that hagioscopes and lychnoscopes are one
scopes and and the same thing : that they may have been symbolical
scopes a^so» kut were in the first instance connected with con
fession : that pede windows certainly are common, and
possibly to be explained as I have done : that double
lychnoscopes on the same side (of which he has examples)
are no objections to the vulne theory, because of the
tradition that Our LORD'S side was twice struck. He
also has a most valuable collection of Sacristies, which
he is to let us have. He is going out to Australia, to
found a College : for which he partly has the money,
and partly knows how to raise it. I much wish you had
been here. Hayle has a curious theory that the best Fonts,
like the best Chalices, are Hexagonal. He seems to have
paid attention exactly to the subjects that most interest
us, as post- Reformation Churches. He thinks that in late
Pointed lychnoscopes did not cease, but were transferred
into the porches, of which he has some odd instances.

To B. W. S. Matthew (Sept. 2ist), 1846. S. College.

A half absurd and half vexatious thing happened
to-day. Just before dinner, a tall priest comes into the

1 See Ecclesiologist, v. 164, 187 ; vi. 65-75 ; vii. 101-141 ; viii.
166-171, 288 ; ix. 113, 187, 252, 348-352 ; xi. 92-95 ; xiii. 215-219.

SACKVILLE COLLEGE CHAPEL 99

College, and goes into the Chapel. After staying there
some little time, he comes out, and asks our cook, " Is
this a Protestant or a Popish College ? " She made answer
that it was Sackville College. This not satisfying him, he
demanded to see me : I, not knowing what had happened,
went down, but happened not to have a cassock on. " Is
this a Roman Catholick College ? " " Certainly not : why A visitor
should you think so ? " " Why, sir, your chapel : I saw (Pr°-
a Roman Catholick Prayer-book in it." (I had unfortu- testant)'
nately left a Breviary there.) I explained to him that
we were not Romanists. " Are you Church of England ? "
" Yes : did you not notice a Bible and Prayer-book ? "
" Well, I did : but the whole look of the Chapel is Popish."
" Is it ? " quoth I ; " I never saw one like it." " I have been
much abroad, and it has just the same effect." After more
of the same kind, "You are under licence from Winchester?"
" Chichester is our Diocese." " O ! If I were Bishop," and
he smiled, " I would be down upon you at once." And so
we parted in a very friendly manner. But I should not
wonder if he were to make mischief.

This foreboding was realized, as this chance visit led to
J. M. Neale's inhibition by the Bishop of Chichester.

To B. W. Nov. 24th, 1846. Sackville College.

I have had a visitor here in the person of Tiernay,
the Duke of Norfolk's Chaplain. He of course went over
the Chapel, and I was much amused with his remarks.
He exclaimed against the superfrontal in toto — that there
ought to be nothing but linen, etc. He is quite one of
the old school : and would have exclaimed against a stone
Altar, had he dared. He has never seen any of the new Another
Churches, and is therefore worth knowing as a specimen of visitor
what Rome was here some forty years ago. I dine with <R-C<)-
him to-day.

Nov. 27th.

On Wednesday morning I went up with Tiernay to
town : and had a great deal of interesting talk with him. He

ioo LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

is much opposed to the Jesuits : and believes that, but for
them, we should now have been in Communion with Rome.
He spoke very openly, and I like him much. The
" Crusades," Burns tells me, are liked.

To B. W. Dec. i2th, 1846. Sackville College.

I have grieved, as you know, in almost every number
of the Ecclesiologist at the enormous space devoted to
foreign art. It is this which is cutting down our influence,
diminishing the number of our subscribers, and turning us
from a first-rate practical, into a third-rate Archaeological
Objections Magazine. Do you really suppose that nine-tenths of our
to Articles subscribers care one straw for our foreign matter ? or that
Churches^ a country Priest, wanting real practical information, will
in Ecciesi- endure to be put off with Cologne and Paris ? On looking
ologist. at the proofs of this number, I find the new year is to open
with a long and tedious paper on S. Denys : and that is
followed by a ditto on Cologne. Now, if you cannot see
the mischief of this, I do ask you as a personal favour to
me to postpone one at least (and would that you could
both) of these papers : and above all things not to let them
stand first. Now, I will send you, on Sunday night, a paper
Schools, on Schools^ just the thing that our country subscribers want,
intended to open the volume ; and I do trust and hope you
will place it there. It will be at great inconvenience to my
self that I send it off, and (if I want any other argument) I
have never yet opened a volume. I shall not write to Hope :
for to make him see where the strength of the Ecclesiologist
lies would be impossible. But you can do that as well as
I can : therefore be you one of those

" Who know what's right — not only so,
But always practise what they know."

Or else I shall have to sing

"How long, ye stupid fools, how long "

To B. W. O Adonai (Dec. i;th), 1846. Sackville College.
I set up the Great Rood in the Chapel to-day. It is
of oak, floriated for the Evang: Symbols, which are to be
1 See Christian Remembrancer •, xiv. 143-177.

SACKVILLE COLLEGE 101

emblazoned after Christmas : it is hardly worth while before,
on account of the holly. It stands about twelve feet from the
ground, and seems to hit the right height. Litany inter
vening, the men stayed to it. Just as the Cross was raised
for the first time, the door opened, and in walked a Pro
testant clergyman. His disgust rendered him speechless
for some time. Then he burst forth.

" It would have moved a Christian's bowels
To hear the doubts he stated ;

But the carpenters did

As they were bid,
And worked the whilst he prated."

I have a seventh candle, brought out in a bracket under the
Cross to light the reader.

One of my people the day before yesterday was com
plaining that another had gone out of College just before
Matins. " I told her that there were prayers at nine, and
Litany at eleven, and prayers at three, and sermon at six —
and she would not stop." A species of logic which probably
did not commend itself much to the recusant.

To B. W. Christmas Day, 1846. Sackville College.

I would have given a great deal that you could have
been here last night. The Chapel looks so delightful with
the holly, yew, and laurel. After prayers, I delivered them
a discourse, -.mostly from S. Leo, Quia kodie, Deo favente^
etc., and then we came into the Hall. That also looks
well, and so it ought, for it took Master Weller and me the
best part of a day to manage. We have the high table First
placed before the fire — now, you must remember, all en
caustic tiled, and thick with laurel above. My wife sat college.
at one end, I at the other ; then we had mince pies, and
bread and cheese, and the old folks grew quite merry, those
that sat in the chimney corners gradually becoming gules
veined purpure, through extremity of heat. After supper,
we moved away the table, gathered round the fire, had a
glass of wine, and drank " the pious memory of our founder."
This morning, as I was consecrating (for those that could

Christmas

102 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

not go to Church), I heard the door open, and some fellows
come in. " Hallo ! " says one gruff voice, " what's all this ? "
(as indeed a Protestant might not unreasonably say). How
ever, they withdrew. You cannot tell the beautiful effect
of returning to the Chapel after having taken the Blessed
Sacrament out.

To-day I had fully intended to help Nevill, but it is
so bitterly cold that I dared not sit so long without a
respirator. Hall is a goodly sight ; and the kitchen and
larder, with two great pieces of beef, seven plum puddings,
mince pies, etc., a goodlier. You know the only person
who has merit in this is my wife, for the trouble she takes
is great ; and she has not learnt fully yet, that being occu
pied in a corporal work of mercy is a better preparation for
such a time as this, than any " Week's preparation " that
ever was or will be written.

One of my people said yesterday, about coming to
Chapel, " Well, sir, I wish to oblige you — and I'm sure I
wish to oblige GOD Almighty whenever I can." To do
myself justice, she has not been in six weeks.1 Mrs. Alcock,
here (whom I have told you of before), comes nearer to a
saint, I do think, than any poor person I ever knew.

This Mrs. Alcock, so highly eulogized by my father, was
quite a feature in the College. She had had no education
to speak of, but she learned to read after she was fifty, and
her shrill voice was very distinct in the Chapel services.
She had her own little peculiarities in reading, such as the
" damsels playing with the thimbles? the " Commu-knit of
Saints," a word which perhaps suggested to her, as it did to
my childish mind, the Collect for All Saints' Day. It was
Mrs. Alcock, too, who was always prominent when the
old people dined with the Warden and his family in the
Hall on high-days and holidays, — saying the " Sir, pray
for a blessing," which was part of the form of Grace used
on those occasions. And after dinner or supper was over
it was she, who, as spokeswoman for the old people, pro
posed the toast, always in the same words, "Well, sir,
here's your good health and all the family's :—

1 In the College.

SACKVILLE COLLEGE 103

' Long may you live,
Happy may you be,
From misfortune free,
And blest with eternitee.' "

Another reminiscence is of her on her sick-bed (pro
bably in her last illness, which was very lingering). My
father called me to go with him to visit her, and to act as
his little clerk by saying the responses. I accompanied
him in mingled pride and trepidation. But after all, he only
read a prayer and a verse or two, and explained to me
afterwards that he found her too ill for more than that I
remember his repeating to her clearly and slowly the words
which he reminded her she knew so well : " O Lord, in Thee
have I trusted ; let me never be confounded." And with
those words he left her.

Troublous times were beginning early in 1847.

To B. W. S. Agatha (Feb. 5th), 1847. Sackville College.

One Hutton, an Evangelical preacher, at Sydenham,
has taken the great house at Felbridge. We called on him,
and he was out ; but when he returned the call, he turned
out to be the Priest who asked, " Is this a Protestant or
a Popish College ? " and also he that came into the Chapel
when the great Rood was set up. He told me, without
any circumlocution, that he should write to the Bishop,
desiring him to have the Rood removed. I represented to
him what a monstrous thing it would be, even supposing
this College not to be exempt, because Hutton is neither
in our parish, nor Diocese. "Every Protestant," he said,
" is bound to strive for the truth," etc., and he will do it,
and at once. (He has already done mischief in another
way.) I, of course, told Nevill ; and he finds himself in
great perplexity.

To B. W.

S. Margaret (July 2oth), 1847, i a.m. Sackville College.

. . . We have got into a battle with the managers of
the soi-disant national school here, who would not receive
my wife's subscription to it, because she is a Puseyite.

I am perfectly fascinated with the investigation of

J04 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Oriental Liturgies. I must say, we have chosen the most
interesting line of study that a man can take.

You will now see that you were unjust to me in imagin
ing that I was going to leave the Ecclesiologist for the
Ecclesiastic. My sole reason for not wishing the North
umberland paper to go in the former was that I do not
think it so suitable. It is true, I do think the Ecclesiologist
a sinking ship. But certainly, while it swims, I shall not
desert it. As you say, it undoubtedly might recover all that
it has lost, but till you go on another tack it never will.

To B. W. Sept. Qth, 1847. Sackville College.

I have written to Hope that I quite approve of the pro-
Scheme for posed amalgamation. [This was a scheme for uniting the
Christian Remembrancer with the Ecclesiologist^ I see
sundry advantages thence resulting, quae nunc praescribere

brancer longum est. I send you a copy of a letter to Burns.
Eccleno- Masters takes that off his hands, which may save me some
legist. trouble. There are great difficulties in the way of the
junction of Ecclesiologist and Christian Remembrancer. But
it is a great thing to march out of an untenable' place
with the honours of war. And I see a possible opening
for something like the Ecclesiologist which shall supply the
want Butterfield and others have so often spoken of. I
have thought of getting for the Commemoration these :
Mill, Monro, McLeod, Webb, Neale, Chamberlain, Scott,
Wheeler, Weguelin, J. F. Russell, and Butterfield.

To J. BURNS.

DEAR SIR,

TO Bums, Under the unhappy circumstances consequent on

^our ^ate secessi°n> ^ would probably be equally unpleasant
to both of us longer to stand in the relations which we have
hitherto borne to each other.

You have a tale of mine on the Vendean rising. If
you are willing to send this to Mr. Masters, he is ready

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN 105

to take it off your hands ; and this, I think, would be the
best arrangement for all parties. Perhaps you will have
the kindness to let me know.

To B. W. Undated (about Oct. gth), 1847.

P.S. — I am not a very good person to ask about
Gordon, because there are so very few books that I have
found of the slightest use.1 In religious matters I have
taught Agnes almost exclusively by pictures, of the dearth
of which I complain greatly. The best stories I know are
Mrs. Myrtle's " Stories of the Seasons " and " Stories of
Country Life," published by Cundall, in four volumes. They
are nominally for children of five or six ; but Agnes under
stands them perfectly. As to Burns' fairy tales, I don't find
that she can understand them. If Gordon wants prayers,
etc., his answer is easy : there are none that can by possi
bility serve. There is a story which Agnes likes, " Agnes
and Clement," of Burns. For children rather younger, I
think the " Two Cousins " (Burns) is the best and easiest
thing that has been written. A child two years old would
understand it with a little pains. Agnes took exceedingly
to B/s " Nursery Rhymes " : one does not much like the
theory, but certainly the practice seems to answer.

He collected such pictures as he could find of Scripture
subjects or the lives of the Saints, and many of these he
pasted into Sunday scrapbooks for his children.

A letter to his little girl follows ; it is only one out of a
great many, and shows how early he began to teach her :
she was not quite four.

MY DEAR LITTLE AGNES,

Papa is writing to you on Sunday. This Sun- Letter
day is called by a very odd name, Rogation Sunday, — to
and when you get this letter it will be Rogation Monday.
Now I will tell you why it is called so. Rogation Sunday
means Asking Sunday. You know next Thursday is Holy
Thursday, when our LORD went up into Heaven. But
before He went up, He said to the Apostles, "Whatever
1 See "Children's Books," Christian Remembrancer, xiv. 231-289.

io6 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

you ask Me for, when I am gone up into Heaven, I will do
it for you." So now we keep these days because He said so.
And Rogation Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are rather
sad days ; then Holy Thursday is a very happy day.

I hope you had your little doll safely this morning.

Papa is very sorry to hear about little Edith.

When you pray to GOD to make her well again, you
must remember what our LORD said about asking Him ; and
the more faith we have in Him — you know what that means
— the more we believe He will do what He says, the more
He will hear us. Good-bye, my little pet. Kiss little Muffie
and little sister for me.

YOUR DEAR PAPA.

To B. W.

Martinmas Eve (Nov. loth), 1847. Sackville College.

As you say, I have a great number of adventures. I
had thought to tell you of my midnight proceedings on
Saturday night under Hascombe Hill, when I ran a chance
of being robbed, and my antagonist fell into the canal : but
I have had one of a different sort to-night. After chapel the
enclosed note was brought to me ; I, of course, could only
answer that he might come, resolving to leave Lloyd to
enter on controversial matters, if he thought fit. He came ;
and guess his controversial topic ! Liturgies generally ;
Greek Liturgies particularly. I laughed in my sleeve.
" I really did not know this," quoth he : " that is a remark
able assertion," etc. " Shall I stick to the Church ? " Was
it not odd ? He knows Paley : and I presume came to
convert me. Non tali auxilio. After he went, I read some
Words- Wordsworth to Gordon which someone lent me, and dis-
poems! liked it less than I imagined. I am just now writing on
Azymes, and find it sufficiently interesting.

P.S. — The Bishop has commenced a suit against me in
the Court of Arches : he has not settled the Articles yet.

It won't do : TO yap EV jusr' t/uou.

ALL SAINTS, MARGARET STREET 107

From B. W. to J. M. N.

Dec. 3ist, 1847. Park Village East, London.

... At Margaret Chapel they have now got up a
complete musical Mass : — the Commandments, Epistle,
Gospel, Preface, etc., all sung to the ancient music. I wish
you would take a day ticket for the Epiphany — which will
be the last time. I venture to assert that there has been A false
nothing so solemn since the Reformation : and it may never Pr°Phecy-
be able to be done again. It is quite worth a great effort :
and you could be off again at 3.30.

To B. W. Undated, 1848.

... I hope that your wife to-day or to-morrow will have
" Duchenier " ; and that you will think the plot better than
mine generally are : also that you will like the night attack
on Nantes, and Robespierre's trial, because I do rather
myself.

To B. W.

S. in Octave of the Ascension, 1848. Sackville College.

" Why, sir," says one of the sisters, 1 " prayers ought to be
read daily — it says so in the Prayer-book — in church, chapel,
or channel ! " Lord D. insisted the day before on their
producing the charter, and they laughed at him. It ordains
double daily service.

They sang two Psalms this afternoon in Church.

i. The De Profundis — ending every verse with Halle- Hymns

luiah • — suns in the

J Church

" From lowest depths of woe at E- Grin-

To GOD I sent my cry, stead>

LORD, hear my supplicating voice,
And graciously reply — Hallelujah ! "

2. Psalm 8, ending thus —

" When heaven, thy beauteous work on high

Employs my wond'ring sight,
The moon that nightly rules the sky,
With stars of feebler light,"
The End.

1 i.e. College pensioners.

io8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

J. M. Neale was at this time planning a tour in France.
His friend wrote to expostulate with him, alleging with truth
the dangerous state of the country. The riots in Paris, it
will be remembered, culminated in the martyrdom of the
saintly Archbishop, who went out to meet the mob with
words of peace. This happened on the 25th of June. Four
days later, on S. Peter's Day, S. Augustine's College, Can
terbury, was consecrated. These two events, so different, yet
both so inspiring, were commemorated by J. M. Neale in
verse, 1 the one beginning —

" A day of cloud and darkness, a day of wrath and woe,"—
the other —

" 'Tis the Vigil of S. Peter— but the Vesper bell is still."

From B. W. to J. M. N. June loth, 1848. Park Village East.
. . . What a goose you must be to think of going to
France now ! I hope you will come back, stripped of your
money by some commissaire, minus some dozen teeth, with
a broken leg, smashed spectacles, beer-desiring, and — wiser !

To B. W. Whit Sunday, 1848. Sackville College.

... I wonder as much at your going to S. Augustine's
as you can at my going to France, and with rather better
cause.

Condition How you can go to see what might be such a magnifi
cent ceremony so completely thrown away, and to Gene-
vanize, puzzles me. I would as lief go to hear the Hallelujah
Chorus done on a barrel-organ. On Wednesday I shall,
all well, be coming with the others from Godalming to
Croydon, and therefore shall not be in Town. These
committees, too, are rather like Tom helping John to do
nothing. It is too bad of Scott not to review that book
(" Eastern Church ") 2 and for such a silly reason. A read
able paper may be made out of the driest thing ever

1 Published after his death, in " Sequences and Hymns."

2 The two volumes of the "History of the Holy Eastern Church"
that deal with the Patriarchate of Alexandria. Cp. Christian Remem
brancer, xiv. 219 ; and xvii. 76-103.

ISLE OF MAN 109

published ; and a paper about Cyril Lucar which would be
fair enough would be as interesting as a romance.

And lastly about France. Do you not see how silly you
are in shutting your eyes to the fact that France at this
time is in a most curious and interesting Church condition ?
If yo2i can conceive it, your imagination infinitely surpasses
mine. Anyhow, I should have wished to go : but now
much more so.

The proposed visit to France was, however, abandoned,
and instead of it was substituted a tour round the Isle of
Man and to the Orkney Islands.

To B. W. July 5th, 1848. Douglas, Isle of Man.

I would not miss what I have to-day seen for worlds.
You know, probably as much as I did, that Man is governed isle of
by its own laws. You may not know that it has three Man-
estates. The Lieutenant-Governor (= the Queen) ; the
Upper House, consisting of the Bishop, Premier Baron,
the Archdeacon, the Vicar-General, the Water-Bailiff, the
two Deemsters, the Attorney-General, and one or two
others — this is the House of Lords ; and the House of
Keys, twenty-four in number — corresponding to the House
of Commons. The Acts are not binding till promulgated in
the open air on Tynwald Mount on Tynwald Day — to-day.
This is a conical hill in the centre of the Island, 120 yards
West of S. John's Chapel. The whole Island assembled,
and the attending prayers, the promulgation of the laws,
etc., was the most thoroughly mediaeval thing I ever saw.

To go on where I left off. Yesterday I left Peel, saw
Kirk Christ Lezayre, new ; Jurby, new ; Ballaugh, Nor
wegian Romanesque ; Kirk Michael, new, but with three
beautiful crosses, and Bishop Wilson's tomb ; then Peel,
with its Cathedral (1245) and Church of S. Patrick, circ.
700 (a ruin). Then Kirk Patrick, Kirk German, Kirk
Malew, Castleton, the seat of Government, where there is
a perfect castle, A.D. 947. To-day, Rushin Abbey (1134),
the Tynwald, and home. Now I have completed my tour
of the Island.

I io LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. July 1 4th, 1848. Kirkwall, Pomona.

I left off at Tain on Wednesday evening. We went
on by mail, intending to go forward to Wick ; but found
a fine Cathedral at Dornoch — fancy finding a Cathe
dral in England — and stopped that night. Next day
we walked to Golspie, where we dined : here the Kirk
is partly old ; then rode to Helmsdale, where we had tea ;
then walked by night to Berriedale, crossing the Ord of
The Caithness at a most lovely midnight. Here we were taken

Orkney Up ^y fae majj ancj came on to Wick. There we got into

Islands. r , J ... M

a dogcart which serves as mail, and to Huna, twenty-one
miles, close to John o' Groat's House. Here we crossed the
Pentland Firth, in the mail boat, a very dangerous passage,
and landed in the South part of South Ronaldsha, close to
Lady Kirk. This has nothing old but the walls and
foundations and a singular cross, like that at Nigg. We
walked across the Island to S. Margaret's Hope, where
we dined, and hired a boat, intending to cross to Mainland.
But wind failing, we ran between Hunda and Burray, and
landed on a desolate point, seven miles from here. We came
in a cart. The sun was close on setting — it was just nine
o'clock as we came out on the hill over the town — lighting
up the glorious contour of its vast Cathedral. I have not
of course " taken " it yet : its contour is very unlike English
Cathedrals.

It is perhaps externally the most solemn looking of any
Church I ever saw. To-morrow we propose to take the
S.W. of Pomona, and Hoy ; Sunday the rest of Pomona ;
Monday the northern islands ; Tuesday by steamer to
Aberdeen.

" Ecclesiological Notes on the Isle of Man and the
Orkneys ; or, A Summer Pilgrimage to S. Maughold and
S. Magnus," was published in 1848 by Masters, and re
viewed in Christian Remembrancer, xvi. 505, 506, and
Ecclesio legist, ix. 291-298.

CHAPTER IX

1848-49

SACKVILLE COLLEGE — MONASTERY OF LA GRANDE
CHARTREUSE

The incense needs

Must feel the fire, or ere its sweetness lifts
Her trailing cloud of beauty through the air ;
The violet trodden under foot gives out
A more than double fragrance ; and the string
Racked to the full gives forth its sweetest sound.

SACKVILLE COLLEGE proved to be no peaceful leisurely
retreat ; his life there was cast in stormy times, and many
of his books, liturgical articles, hymns, sermons, were written
under outward conditions of strife and persecution which
would have hindered a less brave spirit altogether from his
work and would have embittered a less loving one.

A few only of the letters written during these harassing
troubles are included ; they shew what strong allies he had
to his faith and charity in (i) his strong sense of humour,
and (2) his versatility and intense interest in so many
different subjects. So that a long and humiliating day
in court at the trial of a stupid and wicked old woman
has for him its compensation, — "taking" two churches on
his way to Lewes, " comfortably posting," and his expenses
paid by " the County."

But yet how keenly he felt the opposition and persecu
tion, which from one quarter or another extended over the
greater part of his time at Sackville College, may be seen in
a few of his letters, and in some touching lines to his wife
inserted here, though written probably in 1858, when they
were going through a more than ordinary time of trial. It
seems incredible nowadays, but it is a fact, that violent rail
ing abuse formed a part of these troubles — the only part
which we, his younger children, were then aware of. To us,

112 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

familiar as we were with his stories of the persecutions of
the Church, it perhaps seemed to be the natural lot of a
Christian, especially as our parents bore it in a quiet matter-
of-fact way. When abusive language was shouted at her
outside our window, our mother would quietly pull down the
blind, and send one of us to practise the piano. In a letter
to one of us written by our father from abroad, he says, " I
hope Mr. R. won't trouble you whilst we are away, but if he
does come up to the College, you must keep out of his way
as much as you can."

Here are some of the lines alluded to —

When first we entered on this life

Twelve years have known us leading,
Had we foreseen the world of strife

Through which our course was speeding,
I marvel if our Hope had failed

With such a view to fright her,
To whisper, " Hearts for truth assailed

Grow better and grow brighter."

They'll take a place, if GOD so will,

That we have dearly cherished ;
They'll have the joy of speaking ill

Of labours that have perished.
They cannot take our trust in GOD,

They cannot take affection,
Nor make the path that we have trod

Less sweet to recollection.

To B. W. S. Hugh (Nov. i;th), 1848. Sackville College,
incen- The disturbances last night reached a climax. There

diarism. were two incendiary fires the night before. Last night we
had an attempt to set the College on fire in three different
places ; and a man knocked me down in the kitchen, and
yet escaped, though we had five watchers at the time !
Anonymous letters are now the order of the day ; also
pictures of me. This is all part of the same attempt to force
us out ; but they have mistaken their man. I sometimes
really think they will try a bullet before they have done,
and so murder me ; and, as Philip van Artevelde says, —

" . . . this I know,

That they shall murder me ere make me tread
The way that is not my way for an inch."

SACKVILLE COLLEGE 113

They may as well do it as attempt to murder one's character,
though, thank GOD, I am sure neither man nor woman nor
child in East Grinstead gives a shadow of credence to their
vile letters. Sitting up to four agrees not with writing. I
can only do a trifle or so in the day. The night is down
right hard work, — up ladder and through belfry, etc.

To B. W.

Sunday noon, Nov. iQth, 1848. Sackville College.

I am writing as poor Martha Burleigh is dying. She,
poor creature, never had anything to do with the dis
turbances : Mrs. Firminger is the troublesome party.

All that you suggest has been done, — at present in vain.
Inspector Haines, of F. O'Connor notoriety, was down here
the other day ; and at this moment we have a detective
in the shape of a French Polisher, in the house ; which is
regularly watched all night and every night. It is a

desperate effort to get us out. Lord D. suspects H of

knowing about it. In the meantime it hinders all business ;
and now there is no chance of the Ecclesiological paper.

To B. W. Nov. 28th, 1848. Sackville College.

We are going to start for Lewes at 12: hear briefly
why.

On Friday week we caught the old woman, the author
of these disturbances ; on Tuesday she was had up to Tooke
(who had previously said that he could deal with her sum
marily), and he insisted on committing her ; then we had
to be bound over. On Saturday I was in town with Lord
D. to see Counsel — Creasy of King's. He said that though
morally speaking her guilt is certain, the legal proof would
fail : that Tooke ought to have been influenced by us and
not committed her: that however we must appear: that,
in case the Grand Jury find a True Bill, he will not call
witnesses. He also said that in case we did convict her,
the other counsel would have a grand appeal ad miseri-
cordiam^ the magistrates not knowing the real wickedness
of the woman. To Lewes therefore we go : like the King

ii4 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

of France with 40,000 men. However, she will be expelled,
and then, I hope, an end. We go comfortably posting, the
County paying, of course ; and shall see Maresfield and
Buxted.

To B. W. Nov. 29th, i p.m., 1848. Lewes.

Trial at By Lord De la Warr's and Lord Chichester's good

management, the Grand Jury found no bill : to my great

joy-
Trie old woman was defended by Counsel who came
special from London : which proves both her fears and her
money.

From B. W. to J. M. N.

Dec. 8th, 1848. Brasted, Sevenoaks.

The Pope's What do you think about the Pope ? Were there ever
Rome r° n sucn times ? Don't you think the Reconciliation may
be indefinitely near ? Would you sign a memorial to the
Pope, now talked of among our High Churchmen, expres
sive of our wish for re-union ?

To B. W. 2nd Sunday in Advent, 1848. S. C.

I was very nearly coming over to you yesterday ; and
had I been quite sure of the weather, I think I should.
I want to talk to you about the Pope ; though at present
I don't jump with the address. But, as to his mere flight
from Rome, I don't think so much of that.

I am now hard at work on my sketch of " Oriental

Ecclesiology," which will be the first three or four chapters

of the second book of my Introduction, and which I have

Effect of left till nearly last. I wish you could write something for me

Byzantine about the effect that Byzantine ritual produced on Italian

arrangements. There is nothing of this in your book, nor

in Lord Lindsay's ; e.g. are there anywhere traces of a

Chapel of Prothesis, especially in Milan, where the Offertory

ORIENTAL ECCLESIOLOGY 115

is actually used, at least in the Cathedral, or of the Gynae-
conitis ? l I divide mine, nearly as Couchaud 2 does, but I
think a little more exactly.3

1. Byzantine, Constantine to 537.

2. Byzantine 537-1003 (the foundation of the Cathe
dral of Cutais in Abkhasia (Georgia).4

3. Byzantine 1003 to 1453. To which I add

, /Tartaric, 1560-1680.

4. Debased \ ~, . ,

I Classical.

You have no idea of the intense difficulty of opening
a thing like this, where there is absolutely no guide.

If you had to distinguish between Eastern and Western Eastern
Ecclesiology, in the most general way, can you add heads *"d
to these ? Eccie-

1. The arrangement in the East refers more to the sioiogy
Liturgy only, less to other offices : in the West, vice versa.

2. In East, Chancel and Nave are confounded ; Sanc
tuary quite distinct. In West, Sanctuary and Chancel, Nave
quite distinct.

3. The East presupposes one Altar ; and therefore
ignores Chapels, and depresses aisles.

4. A perfect Eastern Church must be Cruciform. A
perfect Western one need not.

5. The retention of the Narthex.

6. The Prothesis ; and tri-apsidal end.

7. The Separation of sexes.

You will see my Liturgies advertised next Guardian,
all well (Tetralogia Littirgica, Leslie).

The story of Bishop Gilbert's Inhibition of the Warden
of Sackville College has been so fully related in the
" Memoir " by Mrs. Charles Towle, that one letter only on
the subject need be included here.

1 Women's gallery, Ecclesiologist, xiii. 139. On the Rood-screen
and Iconostasis, Ecclesiologist, xiv. 8-13.

J " Choix d'Eglises Byzantines en Grece." Paris, 1842.

3 General Introduction, vol. i. p. 172. j

4 Dubois de Montpereux, "Voyage autour du Caucase." Geneva,
1840.

u6 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To the BISHOP OF CHICHESTER.

March 26th, 1849. Sackville College.

MY LORD,

Request Holy Week now drawing on, a time in which,

to the above all others, the poor people here have been accustomed
withdraw to Pravers anc* instructions, from which this year they will
suspension, be debarred, I am induced to make one more appeal to
your Lordship for them and for myself.

If in anything that I may before have written, I may
either have inadvertently said what has given your Lordship
offence — or if I have been carried away by what seemed
to me the necessity and the hardship of the case, to say
more than I intended, or more than I ought, I earnestly
hope that your Lordship will forgive it. I should be un
worthy to be a Priest in our Church did I not severely feel
the deprivation of the power of acting as one where I am
placed : and, what I feel strongly, I may possibly have
expressed too strongly. Your Lordship will, I am sure,
and more especially at this time, forgive me if such has
been the case : but above all things will not visit that fault
of mine upon those amongst whom I am.

Every offer that I could imagine your Lordship could
even wish, has been by Lord De la Warr and myself
already made. I have nothing more in that respect which
I can do. I can but say again, that every arrangement
of which your Lordship might disapprove should — so far
as I am concerned — be altered. I can but again protest
that there is no one, in the whole Church of England,
more faithful to her than I am : no one to whom it would
be more impossible to desert her for Rome. Why am I
not to be believed when I assert this ? which I do most
strongly, and as in the presence of GOD. I may safely
challenge anyone to shew a single passage I have ever
written which looks Romewards ; while I can point to
many and many intended to satisfy the doubting as to
the claims of the English Church. Your Lordship will
allow that the Dublin Review ought to be a good judge
of what has a tendency to Rome. In reviewing the first

APPEAL TO BISHOP GILBERT 117

two volumes of my " History of the Eastern Church," they
say, of one account : — " It can only be explained on the
hypothesis of strong prepossessions against Rome." And
of another, that "it presents more decided indications of
a partizan spirit, and a greater leaning to the anti- Roman
side than any other portion of these volumes " ; and so
through the whole review, which is of some thirty pages.

My Lord, all we ask is, that the suspension may be
withdrawn as far as regards the College. We ask for no
formal removal, only for a tacit allowance. I have neither
time, strength, nor wish (except so far as the removal of
a mark of disapprobation must necessarily be pleasing),
to officiate elsewhere in the diocese. But in this place,
to be able to officiate, there is nothing right, nothing
allowable, that I would not say and do — no trouble that
I would not willingly take. Your Lordship speaks of
interference in another man's parish. Surely, if the Vicar
does not feel the intrusion, there can be none. I am
now taking the very lowest grounds, and I am very much
mistaken if— did the decision rest with him — it would not
be in my favour. Nothing is further from my wish than
to interfere with him ; as he, I am sure, would be the
first to confess. When he has been willing to accept my
services he has had them, and shall have them.

In conclusion, I would entreat your Lordship to re
consider a case which you owned to Lord De la Warr
" seemed a hard one." I appeal to your Lordship's
generosity, because the power is entirely on your side :
to your Lordship's sense of justice, because a year's
suspension is considered sufficient punishment for very
flagrant offences : to your Lordship's dealings in similar
cases, for few clergymen coming for institution could
produce higher testimonials than those which Lord De la
Warr submitted to you : and lastly, if your Lordship has
felt hurt, or has been injured, either by the lawsuit or by
any behaviour of mine — to your remembrance of Him
Who at this time set us an example of forgiving : and on
all these grounds I ask your Lordship, as earnestly as a
man ever asked anything, to allow me, on what conditions

u8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

you please, to officiate in this place (I say nothing of the
diocese in general), it being clearly in your Lordship's
power at any moment to withdraw that permission, and
to restore the present state of things.

I remain, my Lord,

Your Lordship's obedient and faithful Servant,

J. M. NEALE.

This request was refused by the Bishop.

In his " Evenings at Sackville College," J. M. Neale
relates the story of the " Burial of Raymond," that awe
some legend which he had in mind during a visit to the
Grande Chartreuse, an account of which follows. The
place made a very strong impression on him ; the Carthusian
cross and motto, " Stat Crux dum volvitur Orbis," were
adopted by the S. Margaret's Sisterhood, and were used
till 1895, when "Per angusta ad augusta" (the motto over
his study door) was substituted.

To Mrs. NEALE.

Whitsun Eve, 1849.
Monastery of La Grande Chartreuse, Dauphine.

Visit to La It seems to me like a dream that I am really in this
place, which I have so long thought of, and so much wished
' to see. It surpasses all my expectations in every way. To
tell you all about it would be quite out of the question in a
letter. Here I have my own cell, with nothing in it but a
bed, a crucifix, a picture of S. Philip, a prayer-desk, and
a washstand and basin.

Now I am sitting in the room for strangers of the French
nation (there is none for English) : but I neither have nor
shall have any companions. It is a large, rather low room
with several writing-tables, a wood fire, which I am trying
to coax up, a wooden flat roof, a stone floor. The loneliness
is quite dreadful. At six they will bring my supper — bread,
wine, and salad : then at eleven I take a candle and go to
church for Matins, but I shall see and speak to no one till
to-morrow, all well.

The place being so high, almost as high as any mountain
in Scotland, higher than any in England, is dreadfully

VISIT TO LA GRANDE CHARTREUSE 119

cold at night. The heaps of snow are not yet melted in
the Court. But from being in a hole, as it were, though so
high, it is equally hot in the day. I don't know how I
shall like this room at night when it is time for candles.

A great crucifix is set up opposite the table.

Two only of the Fathers can be spoken to : one is really
the perfection of Christian courtesy, the other a little rough.
There are thirty-three Fathers, who wear white, seventy-
eight Brothers, who wear purple, and some novices, who
wear black.

I have heard High Mass and the First Vespers of the
Festival : they have several rites of their own. The chant
ing is very good but excessively slow. They wear no linen,
and are only shaved twice a month. They keep up all the
old rigour ; and it seems so odd to see a Priest cooking
one's dinner.

I wrote to my mother from Vienne. I came away in the
evening, and travelled all night, catching my first view of
the snowy Alps as they look in the sunset. I got to a
place called Voiron this morning at four, walked ten miles,
to St. Laurence au Pont, which I reached at seven, and then
came on a mule line. The scenery is finer than anything I
have seen, except the finest parts of Madeira. To-morrow,
after High Mass at five a.m., I hope to get down to
Grenoble, six hours' walk. (Here is a Frenchman come
in, for a wonder, but I had much sooner have been without
him.)

Having now done my great thing and seen this place, I
am very anxious to be at home. I daresay, however, that
you will hear of me again. I have now spent £15 IQS. and
have £16 IQS. to spend, so it is time to be looking back if
only for that.

Our worthy Priest, Father Charles, is decanting the
wine. They make a very good liqueur here, of which I will
bring you some home if I can- Now he is cleaning the
cruets, — I would not have missed this place for anything, it
is worth four Avignons, and so seldom visited by English.
I have some drawings of it.

!2o LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Whitsunday Morning.

I have just come in from High Mass. The Matins
last night was about the most solemn thing I ever saw —
parts said all but in the dark. Being Sunday I did not
hear the Matins for the Dead, which in this Order are
said every other day. Several other people were at the
beginning of Matins, but the intense cold drove them
away soon. You may guess how cold it was. I did not
undress, and wore my great coat too, and so lay rolled
up in the blankets and slept like a dormouse. Now it is
breakfast, of which I am very glad. Afterwards I shall get
down to Grenoble.

To B. W. July soth, 1849. Sackville College.

Proposed The Bishop of Brechin proposes to establish a Mission
Mission to jn Orkney, where at present there are only about four
professing Churchmen. He is anxious to establish one
priest at Kirkwall or Stromness ; and wished me to accom
pany him for six weeks or so, to start the Mission. There
have been various difficulties, but they seem nearly got over ;
and if the stationary priest can be found in due time, we
shall probably commence operations this autumn. I had a
great deal of conversation with him on the subject, and I
think that if the Scotch can be converted, the attempt is
now going to be made in the right way. He wishes for
three deacons as school-masters ; whom he would ordain
expressly from that rank of people, if they offered. As soon
as there were ten clergy, a Bishop would be appointed ;
and in the meantime, the head priest would be appointed
Archdeacon of Kirkwall. I shall probably hear more about
this, as soon as the Diocesan Synod of Brechin is over,
which begins on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, the Bishop
has given the business here into my charge. I have been
at work on my article on Hymns for the next Christian
Remembrancer? which is sufficiently long, and I hope
amusing : but it will not please you.

This scheme of Bishop Forbes' was not carried out. But
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xviii. 302-343.

DOCTRINAL 121

it is an interesting fact that in that same place, Kirkwall,
where J. M. Neale hoped to be a pioneer in extending the
Scotch Episcopal Church, his son-in-law, Mr. Sutherland
Graeme, was mainly instrumental in that very cause, and
that now in the Islands some one hundred Communicants
testify to the hold episcopacy has there. It is noteworthy,
too, that where J. M. Neale landed in 1848 when touring
in the Orkneys, there is now in that very parish (S. Mary's,
Holm) a chapel with the double dedication of SS. Margaret
of Scotland and Antioch, and that the Altar of this little
chapel has been frequently served by one of his grandsons.

Decoll. S.John Bapt. (Aug. 29th), '49.

MY DEAR WEBB,

Your letter is rather tantalising to my curiosity,
because the proof of " Si " is sent away for a revise : so that I
cannot at present understand your remarks.1 As to your last,
I followed them, I think all, except about " Consecration."
And if I had made that alteration, I do not see how it
should have manifested itself in present sheet. But you
(ask) why I did not. i. Because I excessively dislike, if
one means a thing, not saying it. If I intend to assert that
the Bread and Wine are changed, I don't like saying they
are consecrated. 2. Because fiyiacrfjLtvovQ is, in a manner,
applied technically to another kind of Sanctification, one
naturally thinks of the aKoXovOia TOV [jityaXov 'Aym<r/,iou,
where the <rym<rjudc is so very different. And if you quote
the Liturgy, r&v Tr/oorjymerjUfvajv, the word there is used in
a kind of technical sense, is liable to no mistake, and after
all hardly refers so much to " consecration " as to the being
hallowed by being dedicated to God. It could e.g. be per
fectly right to speak of the Bread and Wine after the Great
Entrance as irym^tvoue. 3. I should grievously offend —
and with cause — my worthy Russian friends, if I speak
waveringly about that which I hold firmly. I don't mean
the Emperor, whom I don't care a button about, but men
like Philaret of Moscow, and Mouravieff, and Archimandrite
Macarius, who know all that paper, or will know it.

1 Chapter V., General Introduction to " History of the Holy
Eastern Church," i. 463-526.

122 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

" 496, note O." I can't remember having used the word
vTTOffTaaig (I wish you would accent your Greek). But still
less do I understand your note. You say, " uTrooracrtc is
substance, not ouorfa." Of course, since the 5th century —

VTTOGTCKTIQ = pCrSOtt = TTjOOtTfOTTOV,

and ovcrta = nature = substance.

Of course I know very well that the third and fourth
centuries made wTrooracnc = ovaia. S. John Damascene calls
you a Jacobite : " Qui ergo non distinguat inter naturam
et hypostasin ita veritati dat operam, ut inter Jacobitas
et ipsum nihil subdiscernem." Pray explain what you
mean.

I have had a curious correspondence with PopofT about
Transubstantiation. I send you his last letter — which return.
I confess, it seems to me nonsense to say, We believe in
^frovcrtwo-fc, but we say nothing of the modus ; and we use
the word in a sense of our own, quite distinct from the
Latin meaning. And the Slavonic, Presushchestvlenie,1
is almost stronger, and means — were there such a word —
transapparentiation. I quite agree with what you say
about my not going to the root of the matter about the
Benediction after the form. But I thought even what I
did say a sufficient answer to Renaudot.

Which reminds me : I have no books here touching
on marriage. I wish you would look and see whether what
I have said about the form of that be true — for I only
wrote from memory. There will be plenty of time— even
if you don't send an answer till Friday. I was very much
disappointed that you did not come.

Ever yours affly.,

J. M. NEALE.

Aug. 2 ist, 1849. Sackville College.

MY DEAR WEBB,

It seems to me that we exactly agree in our
ideas about Transubstantiation — only we differ about a

1 IIpECYIJJECTBAENiE.

TRANSUBSTANTIA TION 123

word. What we both wish to express is this : the Bread
and Wine are in the Liturgy changed into the Body and
Blood of our Lord, as much as one thing can be changed
into another ; how it is done we don't decide : it may be
by Transubstantiation, or by Impanation, or by a Hypo-
statical Union. Now, what are we to call this change ? I
name it transmutation, because it seems to me the vaguest
word as to modus, the strictest as to res. I agree with you,
however, that transmutare is not strictly ^rairoi^v. There
fore I will alter that note to ^£ra/3aXAf<r0ttt. If one has to
use fjitTcnroisiv, I will give your word " trans factured" But
if jutroWwtne be not transubstantiation, how is ofjLoovmo^
Consubstantial ? In fact, you can draw no distinction
between substance and essence. If you believe the essence
of the consecrated Bread and Wine is the essence of our
Lord's Body and Blood, you believe in the gross idea of
Transubstantiation (which I am not denying). It seems to
me again that you confound substance and matter : ovaia
and ifArj. But if ouo-ta be not substance, what is the Greek
for substance ?

I can't see the distinction between worshipping the
Host and Jesus Christ in the Host, except with a kind of
metaphysical nicety, which can hardly enter into one's
devotions. I, too, think that Popoff means what we do ;
but I don't like his word for it any more than you like
mine.

About marriage : I know that the form was ruled at
Trent to be the mutual giving and acceptance. But I
thought, and do think still, that some persons have believed
it to be in the consummation. However, if you can't find
it so, I must alter it.

The revise came to-day ; and I have the satisfaction of
seeing what you meant was mere Protestantism. Of course,
it is only Renaudot's view to account for the Invocation in
the Latin Theory. I was afraid it might be something of
yours.

Scott is rather in the cowardly line. In a letter this
morning he says — speaking of my article — " You must
expect to find some of your criticism on poor I. Williams

124 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

modified. Quite true, and he deserves it, but we dare not"
Italics his own.

I will certainly send you, all well, your cape.

Ever yours affectionately,
J. M. NEALE.

We have had one case of cholera in the town, close
to the College — a travelling Irishman : but he is getting
over it.

How unpleasant for Archdeacon Manning! It would
have been a fit punishment for him, as he was running
somewhere to preach a sermon, to get taken up on suspicion.

FromB.Vf.toJ.M. N.

Sept. ist, 1849. Brasted, Sevenoaks.

I expect I shall loathe your Methodistical snuffling
hymnizing article. It is the oddest thing to me that you
have never slipped off that Evangelical slough : and is due,
I take it, to your own fatal facility of versifying. . . . We
have as yet had no cholera here : but how infamous that
they won't give us a fast-day !

To B. W. 1 3th Sunday after Trinity, 1849. Sackville College.

As we are in the controversial line, we will now pro
ceed to Hymns.1 f'3o£f rr) ayta KOI jueyaArj aruvo^w Trep\ TWV

Now, I wish you would seriously think whether you are
not prejudiced on the subject, whether you are not guilty
of a high-and-dryism. You can only say your hatred of
hymns means one of three things.

a. That there should be no hymns in the Offices of the
Church Catholic.

)3. That there should be no vernacular hymns in our
language.

j. That there are no vernacular hymns in our own
English.

I will not believe that you mean the first ; I agree

1 See Christian Remembrancer •, xviii. 302-343.

HYMNOLOGY 125

with you in the third, with a very few exceptions. Now
as to the second.

This comes the worse from you, because you used to
be in favour of a vernacular Liturgy and Offices, or Offices,
at least. Now, for my part, I am not ; buty while we have
prayers in English, why are we not to have hymns ? Did Hymns a
ever any Church, or any body of religious whatever, do necessity'
without them ? Surely, the language that can bear to
be used in the prayers, can be sufficient for the hymns of
the Church. Now, in my article, which is a long one, I
have taken a great deal of pains to set forth what I am
sure — and what I have been sure of ever since I thought at
all on the subject — are the kind of practical suggestions we
want. I was six months writing the article, and six years
at least thinking of it ; therefore I shall be very sorry if
you " loathe it." The principle of it is, that a Hymnologion
must be had ; that it cannot be made to order ; that the
Church has a perfect right to select and adapt the com
positions of heretics in this, as in everything else, to her
own use ; that, notwithstanding, in the original hymn-books
(which I go through) there are not above ten or twelve
hymns that would do ; that there are ten or twelve ; that
the translations from the Breviary are, generally speaking,
wretched ; that to the Breviary, however, we must go,
taking care not to select trashy hymns from it ; that with
revision we may get twenty or thirty very fair translations.
Then I make some remarks on the usual fault of trans
lations from the Breviary : that there will thus be thirty
or forty hymns provided, as a tentative Hymnology, withA"tenta-
which at present we must be content. Now I confess that tive Hymn-
for my part I see no approach to cant in this. You pooh- ° °gy'
pooh hymns as Paley pooh-poohed Regeneration, because
the word and thing has been abused. As to what you say
about my not having cast the slough of Evangelicalism, I
don't think it is true, at least in the sense you mean. Sub
jectively it may be. And as for my standing up for hymns
because I — or any fool — can write rhymes, that is too
absurd. No ; you profess not to like any poetry ; therefore,
of course, not hymns. I am more liberal ; I don't enter

126 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

into painting, but I don't pooh-pooh pictures in Churches,
though I don't enter into them myself. I send you two
things from my article, which I should like to have your
opinion upon. The one is a translation of " When I survey
the wondrous Cross," the other a Sapphic attempt, only
given as an attempt, at a Sapphic Breviary hymn. If we
could write Sapphics, we gain a most lovely tune. I also
send you one or two extracts from the Evangelical melodies
quoted in the Quarterly Review. The book being sup
pressed, they are worth the keeping.

Webb's answer to this follows. His not knowing the
hymn, " When I survey," seems as surprising as his objec
tion to hymns in the vernacular.

From B. W. to J. M. N.

Sept. 3rd, 1849. Brasted, Sevenoaks.

I mean by my hatred of hymns neither a, /3, nor y.
What I mean is this. The Church of England has retained
but one metrical hymn : in its choir-offices there remains
no place for hymns. The anthem "in places where they
sing" is a different thing in kind: it is a display of
harmonized music ; you yourself will say how miserable a
place it would be for a hymn, just before the State prayers.
Re-arrange our Offices, and you may re-insert hymns
as well as antiphons. But I don't believe that we can
have hymns in the vernacular. I don't believe that we
subjective men can write hymns, which must be altogether
objective. You and others may make uncommonly pretty
imitations : but they are only like leaves of the Rejected
Addresses. The ancient hymns are bald, meagre, rude,
Hymns in etc., etc., but with all this there is in them a simplicity,
the ver- a vigour, a freshness, a heart, that one loves them. Homer
could write a cookery scene, and make his heroes eat guts,
and we love to read it : and you might imitate just such
another, but how should we esteem it ? I, too, have thought
many years on this subject, and am more and more con
vinced that the age of hymns has passed. Happy those
who can use the ancient Latin ones : with our vernacular

HYMNS IN THE VERNACULAR 127

we have lost our privilege. It is the same thing through
out : the translation into English reduced everything to
common sense — the curse or the glory (as you choose) of
our present ritual. I could talk much more on this subject,
but in writing can only just indicate my view. I am not
convinced either, on a priori grounds, about the possibility
of English hymns. The necessity of rhyme as well as
metre, and the difficulties of English rhyme must not be
overlooked. (Even you would not defend New Zealand
hymns, I should think.) What doggerel and balderdash
are our two versions! intolerable, even though redeemed
(as still more modern compositions cannot be) by a certain
quaintness and difference from familiar forms of speech.
I doubt, in short, the possibility of the language of common
life, in such an age as this, being fit for this sort of com
position. I don't think your dislike of painting and mine
to hymns are analogical. But come over and talk of all
these things. These, again, are not days when we can
borrow from heretics, me judice. Not having the pleasure
of knowing " When I survey," I am a poor judge of your
translation.1 But I think the rhythm of the line spretae
voluptates jacent very bad. I should say sunt vana mundi
gaudia. The lines O cui and Talis I can't translate,
not knowing the original. Nor can I translate the
last stanza. I think the English Sapphics fair as to
scansion, but very harsh if attempted to be sung to the
Gregorian Sapphic tune. "Affection" is surely not the
word. The antithesis et rosas martyr is un-English and
un-Englishable.

To the Rev. J. HASKOLL. ' 2nd S. in Advent, 1849.

Sackville College.

There is rather a convenience in having the character
of a bad correspondent, because then one's friends do not
utterly cut one, if one is outrageously long in answering
a letter. You know I care for you as much as if I wrote
every day, which is the only apology I have to give you for Home life,
not writing sooner. And first I must tell you I have
1 See Christian Remembrancer •, xviii. 312 and 326.

128 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

changed my study. You remember the waste room
opening out of the Chapel, where all sorts of spades and the
children's chaise used to be kept ? There I am now : and
it is the prettiest room in the College. It was put in order
by Mrs. Anderdon, on condition of our giving up one of
our bedrooms for a protegee of hers : which we have done ;
and the old study is turned into a bedroom. The next
piece of College news is, that we now do all the services
chorally : for I have learnt to intone. We have put on two
more : Prime, 8 ; Morning prayers, 9 ; Nones, 2 ; Ves
pers, 6 ; Compline, 10. I will send you my " Deeds of
Faith," a second part of the " Triumphs of the Cross."
Agnes1 is getting on very nicely, and marvellously takes
to Church History. She will tell you the Oecumenical
Councils as well as I could do. Corny1 does not make
great progress with Theology. He told me the other day,
speaking of the Trinity, that no One of the Persons was
taller than the others. Not that that is a proof of his back
wardness. We have had no disturbances, except in what
my wife believes the Supernatural line. I suspend my
opinion at present

To B. W. Holy Innocents (Dec. 28th), 1849. S. C.

tide!3 We had one of the pleasantest days I ever remember

yesterday. Vespers with the Withyham Choir at 4 : Pro
cession to the Chapel singing Coeli enarrant : about no to
tea at 5 : glees while the Dissolving views were got ready :
then the views, which went off very well : then more sing
ing, among which my De la Warr song : then procession
by moonlight to Chapel singing Benedictus : the effect of
alternate moon and deep shade on the surplices very fine :
Compline sung in chapel : then supper in Hall and Ser
vants' hall simultaneously for about forty-five. Then the
greater part of the Choir returned, but Helmore and three
remained, and breakfasted here this morning.

The following is the De la Warr song referred
to (Jour de ma vie is the De la Warr motto) : —

1 The children were 5 and 3 years old respectively.

THE DE LA WARR SONG 129

A song for the day, when in bright array

Were gathered the lords of France ;
And her knights and peers saw on red Poictiers

The leopards of England advance,
Ere evening's close to his victor foes

Her Monarch had bent his knee :
And he veiled his crest to Sir Roger la Warr

When he won the Jour de ma vie.

A song for the heart that a gallant part

Before men and angels played,
When the tyrant hold on the lands and gold

Of the Church of our Fathers laid :
When each wish was pelf, and each thought was self

He was guided by honour's star :
Nor the spoil would he touch, were it little or much,

The jfktf Lord De la Warr.1

A song for the sail forth spread to the gale,

As the ship stood out to sea :
And the Baron that there hath order and care

Of a gallant company.
They sought not for dross, and they feared not loss,

As they ploughed the waves afar ;
To plant in the New World their banner, the Cross,

With the brave Lord De la Warr.2

A song for the faith that was true to the death,

And bright as its own bright sword,
When rebels arose, the perjured foes

Of their own anointed Lord ;
His troth it was bent, to spend and be spent,

When he conquered at Branham Scarre ;
And he won him renown upon Adderton Down,

The true Lord De la Warr.3

A song for the hand that in peaceful land,

And in peaceful times, hath done
Full many a deed that shall better speed

Than the bloodiest victory won :
For still with the poor shall their mem'ry endure,

When he sleeps with his sires, — and far
They shall dwell on the name, and shall tell the fame

Of the good Lord De la Warr.4

1 William, loth Baron. 2 Thomas, I2th Baron.

3 Charles, 14th Baron. 4 George John, 5th Earl De la Warr.

CHAPTER X

1849-50

GORHAM JUDGMENT — VISIT TO SOUTH WALES

And still our Litanies ascend, like incense, as before ;
And still we hold the one full faith Nicaea taught of yore ;
And still our children, duly plunged in that baptismal flood,
Of water and the HOLY GHOST, are born the sons of GOD ;
And many an earnest prayer ascends from many a hidden spot
And England's Church is Catholic, though England's self be not !

THE following letters refer to the Gorham case, i.e. the
Privy Council decision that Regeneration by baptism was
an open question : —

To B. W. Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, 1849. S. C.
orham j am g|a(j ^e Guardian is coming out. Certainly, if

no protest is made, I shall walk out. If a protest is made,
I don't know but what the Privy Council may as well
decide against us. Does not the conceit of half a dozen
lawyers sitting on an Article of the Faith strike you as
something unparalleled ?

To B. W. Undated 1849. S. C.

. . . Really I must see you. There is no doubt that
the Appeal will go against us. At first I thought that
I could not remain in the Church, but now I begin to
alter my mind, provided that a strong protest is made on
the point. What I am now most afraid of is, a dribbling
secession of twos and threes. If we are to go, let it be
a sort of Nonjuring secession : there will be time to think
of Rome afterwards.

DISSERTATION ON THE F1LIOQUE 131

To B. W. Jan. 23rd, 1850. S. C.

I don't know where Mill is : so I send you this to
forward to him.1 It is to ask him to read the " Dissertation
on the Procession of the Holy Ghost " : which also I want
you to read, because I feel so very strongly on the Eastern
side, that I may have spoken more strongly than I meant.
I wished to seem to pronounce no judgment, but to leave
the reader to form his own ; and if you will just mark any
passage where it seems to you that I have spoken other
wise, I shall be obliged to you. I have been two years,
on and off, at that Dissertation,2 and in my own mind I clause*
am convinced with Palmer that the Latin Doctrine, if
consistently carried out, would become heresy, and that
the Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Son at all,
except in the way of Temporal Mission, and then not
according to His Divinity, but only according to His
operations. However, of course, I don't say all this in
the book.

To B. W. Feb. 23rd, 1850. S. C.

Your letters are like S. Paul's, because they contain
some things hard to be understood. Why should Butter-
field find it contrary to his conscience and principles to Restora-
restore this Chapel ? I can easily conceive that he finds it li°n of
a bore to be engaged in a little work, but anything further
than that I cannot see. We all talk of Colleges like these
as being the right sort of thing, why not therefore give
them all the efficacy one can ? 3 It is nonsense to build
new ones till we do the most we can with the old. How,
I should like to know, are we to graft an educational foun
dation on this — my great scheme — unless we have a larger
and a more decent Chapel ? If you think that I shall die
before this is done, of course, so I may : but one may
never do anything in that way of arguing. Besides, not
withstanding what you said on Sunday, I know and feel

1 " History of the Holy Eastern Church," General Introduction,
ii. 1095-1168.

2 Christian Remembrancer, xlviii. 468-502.

3 See Christian Remembrancer xxi. 429-443.

132 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

that I am better than I was three years ago. Don't you
see a man might say of you, " Where's the use of his
getting a choir and being at the trouble and expense of
books, surplices, etc. ? Mill probably will not live to a very
great age : some horrid Puritan will be appointed, who will
make a bonfire of the surplices, and pitch the books to the
moles and to the bats, and there's the end" ? How true this
would be, and yet how false ! We are better off here, for
we are morally secure against Puritans. And in due course
of time, the Bishop's absurdities must pass away. The
Chapel will be consecrated, and all regular. As to him, as
one of Fox's Martyrs said, " The Lord convert or confound
him speedily. Amen." But now taking the Free Church
view. Don't you see how unspeakably important such a
place as this would become ? Butterfield himself often
remarked on its capabilities in that line. I should be
sorry to see the Chapel consecrated till that question is
set at rest. If you will write out a plan of a pamphlet,
and write it with me, I will agree. But that is a sort of
thing I never could do by myself. However, I am for
sticking to the old Church to the very last, notwithstand
ing B.'s denunciation of meetings. I am sure that there
ought to be a general meeting of all the Clergy who are
with us, when judgment is pronounced.

Synod of We hardly remember that a synod of Priests now is

Priests. verv much what a synod of Bishops was in the 5th or

6th century. This point ought to be brought out. I really

think the only difference between the two is simply the

accidental one, that one can ordain and the other not —

which has surely nothing to do with Synodical action.

Gorbam My idea would be, after such a meeting, to attach as

crisis. many signatures as possible to such a Protest as I enclose.

Depend upon it, it would get us justice, if we could attach

2000 or 3000 names to it.

I imagine that in thus suspending our Communion,
i. We don't give up our parishes. Those who have
parishes may use the Prayer-book still, and, till they are
turned out, stay where they are ? And they could not be
turned out. Where are their successors to come from ?

GORHAM JUDGMENT 133

2. That those who have not parishes may say Mass, or
what they please, till the Secession either returns, or, adopt
ing a permanent Status, has its own Offices.

3. That a certain time should be fixed, beyond which
the Secession will not wait for Convocation. If the Church
of England does not then clear herself, she must be con
sidered to have acquiesced in heresy.

This is acting ab extra in the Church. One might sign
a protest as before, omitting Paragraphs 4 and 5, and with
2000 or 3000 signatures, assume that such a protest did
save the Church, and so wait for better times. I don't see
any third course. Let us hear what you think. But some
thing must be done, and if no one else comes forward, we
will. We shall soon be backed : and it will not be new to
us to lead : and we do know something of such matters.

To B. W. May 23rd, 1850. S. C.

I write down the proposed Resolutions. Tell me how
you like them, and if you could suggest any alteration in
them. . . .

1. That the Church of England holds, and we therefore
teach, the Catholic doctrine of the unconditional Regenera
tion of all Infants, in and by the Sacrament of Holy
Baptism.

2. That we desire to record our solemn Protest against Protest,
the lately pronounced decision of, etc.

3. That, another Court of Appeal for the Decision of
Spiritual causes being clearly necessary, we are disposed
to accept that proposed by the Bishop of London with the
almost unanimous sanction of the Episcopal Bench, provided
that in this, as in every other existing or contemplated
Court of Appeal, some sufficient legitimate control, with
respect to the appointment of her Bishops and the Judges,
be guaranteed by the Court.

4. That we pledge ourselves to use our increasing exer
tions to carry out the principles written in the above
Resolutions.

5. That copies of the above Resolutions be sent to
Canterbury, Chichester, London, Exeter.

134 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 1850.

Protest. Protest and Declaration of Suspension of Communion.

We, the undersigned, being Priests of the Church of
England, do hereby solemnly protest against the late
decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
in the case of the Bishop of Exeter v. Gorham.

1. We protest against it firstly,

Because the said Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
is a body absolutely without Ecclesiastical Authority, owing
its existence to an Act of Parliament never accepted nor
recognized by the Church : a body of which every indi
vidual member may be a heretic or infidel, and the consti
tution of which is entirely at variance with that theory
of Royal Supremacy accepted by the Church at the era of
the Reformation.

2. We protest against it secondly,

Because the Catholic Church from the beginning has
ever held that Regeneration is conferred in and by Baptism,
and by that alone : and because the English Church, as a
branch of the Catholic Church, has ever held and taught
the same doctrine, in her Offices, in her Catechism, and
in her Articles.

3. And we further declare,

That we will continue to teach that Regeneration is
conferred in and by Baptism, and to oppose to the utmost
of our power the opposite doctrine, as contrary to the
teaching of this Church, contrary to the teaching of the
universal Church, and formally heretical.

And since the Church of England, while she appears to
acquiesce in the said decision, gives undoubted grounds for
suspicion of being an heretical body, we further declare
that we shall abstain from her Communion, till, by her
Convocation, she shall have confirmed or reversed the said
decision : and that if, which GOD forbid, she should by
Convocation confirm it, we shall then be compelled to
regard her as no longer an orthodox Branch of the Church
of Christ, and to leave her accordingly.

GORHAM JUDGMENT 135

And to the end that this point, being a matter on which
salvation is concerned, may be decided in one way or the
other, we demand as our undoubted right that Convocation
may be assembled as speedily as possible, in order that
the Doctrine of the English Church on the subject of
Regeneration may be formally declared.

To B. W. Undated (1850).

I did not receive the news till the Guardian of this
morning, and I have written some few pages to-day about „ Af
it, and will do more this evening. Spem vultu simulat ; words of
premit alto corde dolor em. But whatever may be the event, h°pe," etc.
there is no reason why we are to be ruined now, as we
shall be, except these abide in the ship ; I trust at all events,
that whether the boat will live out in the sea or not, we shall
not be swamped among the breakers. I like the Guardian's
leader better than I have liked any of them for a long
time. Just after the news, we went to Prime : and the
1 1 8th Psalm and Athanasian Creed came in very well.

If my pamphlet 1 comes to anything, I shall tell Masters
to send you a proof, which return to me without loss of
time.

I suppose more about Regeneration 2 will be preached
to-day than ever before. I am glad that the Bishop of
London has delivered his soul. Pray GOD there may be
a purgatory for the Archbishops.

P.S. — Certainly if one were disposed to doubt of the
Church of England, one might. Our Vicar this morning,
preaching on " Except ye eat," etc., said, " To say that
in any sense we eat our Lord's Real Flesh and Blood
is a supposition too absurd and blasphemous to need
refutation ! " Whereupon I took my cap, and came out
of Church in a stately manner, so that the people might
see I was not ill or ashamed.

1 This was : " A Few Words of Hope in the Present Crisis of the
English Church." Masters, 1850. Christian Remembrancer, xix.
531-534.

2 Christian Remembrancer, xix. 1-58.

136 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

At this crisis, whilst Churchmen were divided as to the
right course of action, some urging active defence, some
passive patience, others secession, and the Bishop of Exeter
in vain called upon the Archbishop to " summon his com
provincial Bishops, and invite them to declare what is the
faith of the Church on the article impugned in the Gorham
judgment," J. M. Neale, with his characteristic appeal to
history, set forth his view of duty in the following letter
to the Guardian : —

April 1 8th, 1850.
SIR,

Letter to While I most heartily feel with your reviewer,

the that a deep debt of gratitude is due to Mr. Monro from

r/Gorham *ne English Church, perhaps you will allow me to state,
Judgment, as briefly as possible, why I cannot concur in the sentiments
of his pamphlet, " On the Spirit in which Men are Meeting
the Present Crisis." It seems to me, that both Mr. Monro
and the reviewer confound the priestly office, per se, with
the office of a parish priest ; and also that they treat the
present struggle as a new thing, with respect to which a
code of laws is now first to be laid down for the regulation
of the conduct of priests, instead of falling back on pre
cedents, of which we have so many. Let me draw attention
to one of these in particular, because its circumstances
afford a curious parallel to those of the present day. When
Nestorius first propagated his heresy at Constantinople,
the Court being, negatively at least, on his side, did the
clergy (as Mr. Monro would have us do now) occupy them
selves more sedulously in the care of their flocks, and leave
the defence of the faith to those whose business it might
be ? Look at the facts. Nestorius first committed himself
to his heresy on Christmas Day. There was a brief pause
of indignant astonishment ; but in three weeks' time a
pamphlet was published by Eusebius of Doryloeum, the
Badeley or Palmer of his day ; and, a week later, another
by Marius Mercator, in opposition to the new teaching.
These tracts made a great sensation. Still the Bishops
did not stir. On this the clergy, far from considering the
priestly character injured by what is now called " agitation,"
organized it systematically. Those of S. Irene-next-the-Sea

LETTER TO THE "GUARDIAN" 137

came more especially forward, and were suspended for
their pains.1 Public meetings were held, though, as in
the present troubles, the season was Lent. S. Proclus
(who, though a Bishop, had no See, and merely acted as
a priest of the Greek Church) publicly attacked the new
heresy in a sermon on Lady Day, which fell, by a curious
coincidence, that year in Holy Week. Nestorius replied.
Public indignation ran very high, and was fomented by
the priests and monks. S. Cyril (we need not look far
to find his counterpart now) having previously exhorted
them to stand fast in the faith, addressed his first Letter
to the Archbishop of Constantinople. He was publicly
answered by one Photius, a city priest (another parallel).
The orthodox priests and monks used every method of
agitation ; uniting with some of the nobility (we should
now say forming a committee with them) ; they sent
addresses to Cyril ; they memorialized the Emperor ; they
appealed to Rome. Some of the " clerical agitators " were
scourged ; still the movement spread. The clergy insisted
on a Council, and its issue at Ephesus we all know. Now,
when at the present time I find priests blamed for "journeys
to London, anxious discussions, paper wars, absence from
parishes in holy seasons," "irreverence in the open dis
cussion of such topics" on platforms, I turn to what S.
Cyril wrote on similar conduct, and I find him earnestly
intreating that it may be persevered in, and dwelling on
the reward laid up for priests who thus act and suffer for
the faith. If the view — a narrow and one-sided view to
my mind — now taken of the priestly office be right, certainly
that held by S. Cyril was wrong ; and no one, I suppose,
will deny that the Council of Ephesus was completely "got
up " by " agitation." I might multiply similar instances ;
but I will only allude to two. The first is, the conduct of
the priests and deacons of Alexandria, and of the Mareotis,2
when the imperial commission was collecting charges against
S. Athanasius — a political as well as religious dispute —
their meetings, protests, and appeals. The second, the pro
ceedings of S. Maximus and the clergy of Constantinople
1 " Eastern Church : Alexandria," i. 237-255. 2 Ibid., i. 167.

138 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

in resisting the Ecthesis and the Type ; an " agitation "
which ended in the death of the former, and the triumph
of the faith at the Sixth Oecumenical Council.

"Stand ye in the old ways" was advice never more
needed than now ; and those old ways are — not the keep
ing quiet at home, and believing that the sanctity of an
office will be injured if we publicly contend for the faith,
but the uniting in, openly, and against all opposition,
defending the violated faith. In short, we must obey
the old command — "Wherefore criest thou unto Me ?
Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward."

I remain, etc.,

J. M. N.

To B. W. May i;th, 1850. S. C.

. . . Having £5 given me for the purpose, I left home
on Monday afternoon : to Crawley, Cuckfield, and Brighton
where I slept. Tuesday to Bexhill near Hastings, Wart-
ling near Battle, Pevensey, and that part, returning to
Brighton : Wednesday to Ovingdean and Telscombe way :
back to Brighton : to Shoreham : back to Brighton : at
night to Newhaven, where I slept. Thursday to Seaford,
Gorham then to Lewes, Isfield, and so home. Thus having can-
protest, vassed nine out of eleven Rural Deaneries, I find certainly
on the right side, seventy-four ; certainly on the wrong,
forty ; neutral, of whom perhaps ten may be gained, forty-
one ; leaving us a very clear working majority. You can
hardly guess the bodily and mental exertion such a canvass
requires. Whether Hare will call the meeting is a very
different question. But the signatures themselves to the
requisition will be worth almost as much.

After I got back last night, I saw some performances
of clairvoyance, to my mind perfectly establishing a quasi-
miraculous power.1 One of the oddest was this, partly, you
will see, only mental transfer, partly complete clearseeing.
The operator's daughter, a girl of about fourteen, was the
clairvoyante. I wrote down " Sackville College was founded
in 1608."

1 See Christian Remembrancer > xiii. 366-391, "Animal Magnetism."

CLAIRVOYANCE 139

Q. What is this about ?

A. A College.

Q. What College ?

A. Sackville College.

Q. Where is it ?

A. In Ireland.

Q. Is it Protestant, or Catholic ?

A. I don't know.

Q. Think again.

A. I think it is Catholic.

Q. Are you sure ?

A. I am sure it is not Protestant.

Q. Look at it, and tell me what it is like.

A. A building with four sides, standing round a kind of
grass quadrangle.

Q. When was it founded ?

A. 1-6-0-8.

Now, the odd part is that we have had letters sent to
Ireland on account of Sackville Street, the Oxford Street ciair-
of Dublin ; and the girl's hesitation about Protestant and v°yance-
Catholic was just as if she then had the College before her,
and were puzzled.

One more : my wife gave her Father Forbes' ring.

Q. What has that lady just given me ?

A. A signet ring.

Q. What is there on it ?

A. Letters.

Q. What letters?

A. I don't know them. I don't know the language.

Q. What else ?

A. Something like a windmill (which clearly, to an
ignorant child >pc is).

To B. W. Whitsunday, 1850. S. C.

We don't propose to advertise names till Hare refuses
to call the meeting — if he should refuse ; if he should call
it, then we shall advertise them as to the Resolutions, not
to the address. At least this was the understanding at

140 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

our meeting on Thursday. I rather disagree from you
about clairvoyance. If it is destined to be, as I believe,
in its development, the greatest enemy the Church has
ever had, I wish to learn all about it when I have a good
example at hand. I have seen it twice since I wrote : the
first time as before ; the second, we made up a private
party, and had the clairvoyante and her father in the Hall.
As to mental transfer, if a man doubt that, he may doubt
anything ; but I don't call that, strictly speaking, miraculous.
Here are two cases of clairvoyance. In my study I cut
an advertisement out, "®Je palate Htbtatg," folded it
up over and over again, put it in an envelope, sealed it,
said not a word to anyone, put it in my pocket, and took
it to the room. The operator held the envelope up.

What is this ? (Answer right.)

Are the words written or printed ? Printed.

In what type ? Old English.

It seems to me that, if that be not a miracle, it is
nonsense in us to talk of miracles at all.

The other was this.

One of our servants has a brother who sailed for Canada
on April I4th.

Q. This person wishes to know about her brother, who
has left England. If you can see him, what sort of person ?

R. (I forget the description, but it was correct.)

Q. Where is he ?

R. On the sea.

Q. Why, when did he sail ?

R. April 1 4th.

Q. Where is he going to ?

R. Quebec.

Q. To stop there ?

R. No, he goes to Toronto.

Q. Is he, at this moment, well ?

R. He is.

Q. Will he reach Toronto well ?

R. He will.

The last two answers clearly may be only guesses, but
I confess I shall be anxious to know whether he was at

CLAIRVOYANCE 141

sea, because the voyage was expected to be sooner over.
The other answers were quite right ; the most curious case
of mental transfer was this. The operator took a Portu
guese Dictionary which I gave him, read the words in
Portuguese, and the clairvoyante translated them ; then
in English, and she put them into Portuguese, horribly
pronounced, but quite right. Several words she answered
would have quite puzzled me, though I reckon myself a
very good Portuguese scholar. It seems to me that the
Church, having had the gift of miracles for 1000 years, then
gradually withdrawn for 800 more, is now going to have
miracles against her. As to the crystal globe, there are
such things ; but the more usual way is a looking-glass (as
they now do in Egypt), or a glass of water. The latter is
old enough. " Is not this my lord's cup out of which he The divin
drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth ? " One thing ing cup.
more. The envelope I spoke of was sealed, on purpose, Gen-xliv-5-
with the Cross.

Q. What does the seal put you in mind of?

R. Religion.

Q. What about religion ?

R. The Jews.

Q. What connected with the Jews ?

A very long pause. — At last, Jesus Christ.

To B. W. 4th S. after Easter, 1850. S. C.

As to the admission of a choir boy I should simply Admission
have, standing in the Holy Doors, the boy without — of choir

boy.

V. Blessed be the name of the Lord
R. From this time forth for evermore,

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord,
R. Who hath made heaven and earth.

Ant. The Lord is the portion. Psalm 16, Repetat:
Ant: Praefatio (Sacrament. Gelas.). "Deum Patrem
Omnipotentem suppliciter deprecamur ut hunc famulum
suum N. benedicere dignetur, quern in officium cantoris
eligere dignatus est : ut sit illi fidelissima cura in
distinctione horarum certarum ad invocandum nomen

142 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

divinum." — He puts on the surplice. — " Pater omnipotens et
Deus eterne, benedicere digneris hunc famulum tuum can-
torem, ut inter cantores Ecclesiae paret obsequia ; et inter
electos tuos partem mereatur habere mercedis."

Repetat: Ant:

Then, giving him the book, " See, that what thou
singest with the mouth, thou believest in the heart : and
what thou believest in thy heart, thou fulfillest in thy life."

Then he goes into the Choir.

Ant. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord.

Psalm xxiv., Domini est terra.

Repetat: Ant:

" The blessing of GOD," etc.

Remember, you are really giving orders.

" Psalmistapotest absque scientia Episcopi sola jussione
Presbyteri officium suscipere," says the Gelasian Sacra-
mentary.1

To Rev. W. RUSSELL. June 4th, 1850. Sackville College.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

Secession. You will have heard from Laetitia before this of

the unhappy doubts which she feels with respect to our
Church.

I heard of them for the first time last night. This
morning I went up to London, putting aside a good deal
of important business, and had a three hours' talk with her.

Now, first let me assure you, that however much I
deplore the decision of the Privy Council, I am not shaken
in fidelity to our Church : and if I was, I should not go to
Rome, but to Scotland. This I say most solemnly.2

Next, / am sure, that if she is treated properly, Laetitia
will not leave us : and I am nearly sure that, if she is
treated improperly, she will.

I would do everything in my power to save anyone
from this ; her more especially, both because I love her as
a sister, and because of the debt of gratitude I owe you.

Now, this sort of case is not new to me, and it is, I

1 Cp. Archbishop Benson's " Form for Admitting Choristers."
Truro Cathedral.

2 See " Church Difficulties," pp. 52-82.

SECESSIONS 143

believe, new to you. Do let me entreat you not to argue
with her. Simply ask her to read Courayer on the
"Validity of English Orders," and Allies's1 "Church of
England cleared from the Charge of Schism " (the second
edition, 1848). Her difficulties, thank GOD, are not moral
but purely intellectual, and those are the two books which
will precisely meet them.

If you will do this, and leave the rest to GOD, I will
answer for the issue. Whatever I can do I need not
promise you that I will. If you will send me a line I shall
be very glad.

You have no idea of the fearful state of the High
Church party. Pray, — I am sure you will pray, — that it
may be overruled for good. And once more let me
entreat you not to argue with Laetitia.

The lady remained in the English Communion, and
died in it many years after.

To B. W. June 5th, 1850. S. C.

It seems to me that every one is going (to Rome).
H. Wilberforce, and Allies, 1 between them will, I think, take
Wheeler of Shoreham. — Laetitia Russell is all but gone by
means of Dodsworth ; but I had a three hours' talk with
her yesterday, and she will stay for the present.

... I have now sixty-five names to the requisition to Cause of
Hare, and it is to go in when we have seventy. I shall be secessions.
glad to see the Bishop of London in the Chair, if the reso
lutions are not milk-and-waterized to his palate. All the
secessions, are, I think, fully attributable to the policy of
Pusey, Hope and Co.

(Alluding to the " Vineyard " in Dr. Pusey's letter on
Newman's secession. " Our Church has not known how
to employ him. He seems, then, to me, not so much
gone from us as transplanted into another part of the
vineyard, where the full energies of his powerful mind can
be employed, which here they were not." Page 8.)

1 Mr. Allies subsequently joined the Church of Rome on the supre
macy question. See Christian Remembrancer, xx. 185-202.

144 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. June 2oth, 1850. S. C.

... In answer to Dodsworth's letter I said that as I
should be in London, I would call on him ; which also I did.
I sat with him about two hours. I quite agree with you
about him. What we have known ages ago, he now dis
covers ; I suppose we both of us, when we discovered the
reformers to be villains, and the Articles trash, had some
thoughts of Rome. The disease comes to him in an
aggravated form from occurring at this crisis ; e.g.

D. " If Article X says Y, and Article Z says S-Y, what
are we to say ? "

N. " Say ! why, that the Articles are trash, to be sure."

D. "Well — (pondering) — that is a grave consideration."

He, Maskell, and Allies are just going to print a letter to
Pusey enquiring by what authority he goes about on a
roving commission to absolve.1 Only imagine the harm
this will do ! What he thinks, learn thus : —

D. " Do you agree with me, that a Priest has not, by
the ordinary laws of the Church, commission to absolve
anywhere but in his own parish ? "

N. " Yes. But do you agree with me that a particular
Church might give her Priests power to do acts, implicitly
contained in their office, but not explicitly allowed by the
general voice of the Church, e.g. to confirm ? "

D. "Yes."

N. " A fortiori then, a roving commission to absolve ? "

D. "Yes."

N. " Do you not think the English Church has done
so in ' Let him come to me or ' etc. ? "

D. " Prima facie it seems so. But I can't think that
it was intended to make Tom Jones or Ned Tomkins judges
of who were discreet and learned ministers. The meaning
must be, that Tom or Ned might go to any person
approved by the Bishop as discreet and learned."

N. " I don't agree with you. But suppose there is no
such authority. What becomes of those Priests who do go
about absolving ? "

D. " I look on the question as a very grave one
whether their absolution is not null and void."

See Christian Remembrancer, xxi. 232, and 444-464,

GORHAM JUDGMENT 145

N. "You mean that, as an excommunicated Priest
can celebrate validly though not without mortal sin, but if
he absolves it is a mere farce, so here ? "

D. "Yes."

And that was all that passed on this subject. But in
this matter Dodsworth is clearly wrong, if the Roman
Church be right : in fact he Orientalizes.

He told me that Manning said of the Scotch Church — The
" We got out of the ship into the boat at the Reformation, "Tub-
but I am not now going to get out of the boat into the
tub."

When I got back, I found that Hare refuses the meet
ing. What we shall do I don't know. Several want a
meeting nevertheless. My own feeling is that coming so
soon after the M. M. it would be (i) unnecessary, and (2) a
failure. But a month or six weeks hence, we might, I think,
get up some very strong resolutions. When the exchequer
affair is over, there will want some meeting somewhere to
guide opinion, and to keep up agitation. I think some
good resolutions — really good — if only signed by twenty
or twenty-five men would come in admirably. Maberly of
Cuckfield is anxious for a Sussex Union. I quite agree Local
with him : and I suppose we shall take some steps about
it. Tell me what you think of this plan. You have no hope,
during the present Archbishop's life (the Lord convert or
confound him speedily !), of a Kent Union. What do you
think of a Tunbridge Union which might embrace the two
counties ? — or better still, a " Brighton and Maidstone "
one, which might hereafter naturally divide into two ? I
confess I think these Unions so very useful, that I should
be very glad of this. Cavendish and others want me so
much to answer Hare's second letter, that I think I shall.
You, where you are, are scarcely a fair judge of the terror
he inspires here. No one dares to oppose him, and round
his own place he is quite despotic. The English Chttrck-
man and Gresley don't know how much harm they do by
quoting him with approbation.

146 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

During a short visit to South Wales.

To His WIFE.

Tuesday night, July 2nd, 1850, n p.m.

Castle Inn, Swansea.
MY DEAREST LOVE,

You can scarcely imagine a stranger contrast
than between LlandafF and Cardiff, only two miles apart
though they are. Llandaff, a cathedral village, standing
round an old collegiate-looking green, with prebendal
houses, trim gardens, quiet, almost desolation. Cardiff, a
town of more than American activity, forced into a high
pressure existence by two railways, and its being the depot
of the treasures of the great mineral basin of South Wales.
There is but one old Church, and that has been nearly
spoilt ; the Tower, however, is just like those of Somerset
shire.

I left Cardiff at 8.20, and two hours brought me here.
A most primitive railway, to be sure, and its being one of
the broad gauge makes it seem the more remarkable. At
Bridgend, I asked them to put in a light ; it seems such a
request had never been made before, the railway only
having been open twelve days ; but they were very civil,
and kept the train waiting ten minutes while the lamps were
trimmed. The night entrance into Swansea is awfully
beautiful. I can imagine no scene on earth more nearly
resembling Hell. I have seen the Birmingham and
Newcastle works by night, but they are not to be compared
for ghastly effect to the green flames of copper furnaces.
Get Mr. Burt to show you the last Illustrated News ; there
you will see the Landore Viaduct, from the top of it this
effect is chiefly gained. It is a very wet night ; but the
day has been fine, and the field walk to Llandaff was
delightful. To-morrow, all well, I make an excursion
round Gower. Gower is the South-west peninsula, or toe,
of Glamorganshire, a very wild county.

I expect to find Fenn on my return to the Inn. It is a
great comfort to me that / could be at home to-morrow
night if I wished. Now I must write something to Agnes.

Ever your aff. husband,

J. M. NEALE.

VISIT TO SOUTH WALES 147

MY DEAR LITTLE PET,

Mama will shew you on the map the place Letter to
where I am writing to you. I have seen a great many
things to-day that I wish you could have seen too ; a
Cathedral, called Llandaff Cathedral, which some wicked
men pulled down a great deal of, but it is now being
built up again ; and some very, very large fires where they
melt copper out of what we call the ore. But one funny
thing I must tell you of. I went through a field to-day
where there were a great many sheep, and almost all these
sheep had horns ; not straight horns like cows, but twisted,
like hangers or pot-hooks. They would have pleased
Corny very much. I think I shall be able to bring you
and Corny some pretty shells, or something of that sort ;
but you remember the law we made, so I hope you will
both have been very good. Kiss Corny, May, and Ermy
for me.

YOUR DEAR PAPA.

To His WIFE. Wednesday night. Swansea.

... I have had a delightful day in Gower to-day.
Oxwich Parsonage is the most perfect Paradise upon
earth I ever saw. The garden runs out into the beach ;
and the trees absolutely overhang the sea. Such noble
trees, too, as they are ; I never could have imagined such
an union of the two things. But the most interesting
thing I have seen is the Worms Head, the very extremity
of the toe of Glamorganshire. At Rhosilly I got a guide :
the promontory becomes an island at full tide : we had
to wait some little time. The Blowhole interested me as
much as anything I ever saw. The point running out into
the sea in a scarped precipice on one side and down on
the other thus : (here followed a sketch).

Halfway up and down is a little sink in the earth, Rhosilly.
where is a rock with a scarcely perceptible crack in it. I
sat down by it ; and directly there came such a dreadful
sigh as no words can describe. Quite, thoroughly, a sigh,
but so very loud. Then, directly afterwards a noise as of

148 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

a hundred bulls bellowing at once. And this constantly
goes on, the sigh and bellow alternate, not always equally
loud ; but when loudest, the bellow can be heard seven miles
off. I never saw anything more astonishing, though very
easily explicable. From the precipice side a cavern runs in ;
this has a kind of rock chimney communicating with the
Blowhole. When the sea rushes in, the air is driven up
the vent and issues at the Blowhole with that dreadful
noise. My guide told me a number of wild stories con
nected with wrecks. A Spanish galleon was wrecked
there in 1618. One Mr. Mansell, Lord of the Manor,
unlawfully seized the money, and had to leave the country.
It is said that on stormy nights he drives his coach-and-
six down the tremendous cliffs of Rhosilly, where an
earthly horse could never tread, — then along the sands to
the galleon, and so to the points. I saw an old man, by
name William Davie, who declares most solemnly that he,
never having at the time heard the story, once saw this
himself. All along this coast till lately they practised the
infernal custom of showing false l lights to wreck ships.
Gower was a Flemish colony ; many of the words are
Flemish even now, and many of the buildings. Welsh is
scarcely spoken at all.

I was most exceeding doleful at Ferryside, I wish I
were at home. However, I shall find some letters
from you, all well, at Pembroke. I don't believe that
anyone is more homesick than I am when away. I have
got a vast number of little pictures, however, for some
stories, or " Hierologus," Pt. II., and one pretty little story,
" The False Lights." I heard of Sir R. Peel's death to-day,
just as we were coming out of Llanelly.

1 A story of this— " The False Signals of Rhosilly "—is in " Followers
of the Lord."

CHAPTER XI

1850-51

DEANERY OF PERTH — " HYMNAL NOTED " — " NO
POPERY" RIOT

Grant us patience, grant us courage,

Grant us this one true intent,
If we take hard blows, to deal them :

Both to spend, and to be spent.

IN July, 1850, the Deanery of the Cathedral at Perth was
offered to J. M. Neale. Though much tempted by the
offer, he felt it right to refuse it. His reasons are given
shortly in the following.

It may be here remarked that this was the sole piece
of preferment which was ever proposed for his acceptance.

To J. HASKOLL. July

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

Perhaps I can more easily explain to you than
to any other member of your Chapter, why, after a great
deal of thought, I have made up my mind to decline the
offer of the Deanery ; and you can, in addition to the more Perth
formal answer, shew my present letter to anyone whom it Deanery-
might interest.

In the first place, let me thank you and the rest of the
Chapter for thinking of me. And let me assure you that,
in many respects, I could have wished for nothing better.
You know that I have no objection to a little fighting ;
and anything which I could have done to oppose the
Anglicanism at Perth I would have done most cheerfully

ISO LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

and strenuously ; nor, after the kind offer which your
letter of this morning brought, should I have felt any
difficulty on the score of money, and, had the Deanery
been richly endowed, I can assure you that it would have
made no difference in my answer.

My principal reasons for declining the Deanery are
these :—

Reasons I. Had the Church of England acquiesced in the late

decision I should have accepted with more than thankful-
Deanery. ness anv offer, and more especially such an one, which would
have removed me from her. But, by like reasoning, now
that she does not acquiesce, but is engaged in a struggle
for life and death, I think that it is the duty of her sons to
remain in her. My going, you may say very truly, would
do no harm : but if everyone reasoned so, we should soon
have nothing but a dead Establishment left.

2. If I came, I should of course come as a Missionary.
I would not come without a licence from the Bishop to
preach anywhere and everywhere, in lanes, streets, markets,
fields, or roads — that, I am sure, is the only way to convert
Scotland. But, if I were to do this effectively, I should be
dead in a year, and that without any adequate advantage
gained.

3. It would be most highly desirable that your Dean
should be a man thoroughly acquainted with music. I
have a zeal for it, but not according to knowledge.

To you I might add that it seems providential that,
simultaneously with your offer, a way of usefulness should
be opened to me in this Diocese, by the formation of a
South Eastern Union, and that the rebuilding of the Chapel
should just have commenced.

You say in your letter of this morning that I said — if
the Deanery were offered to me, I would accept it. — All I
said was, if you will look at my letter, " How do you know
I would not accept it ? " In fact I did not, and could not
tell myself.

My decision has been very much influenced by the
course of events in the Church of England : and this I
could not foresee. After all, I assure you it has been

DEANERY OF PERTH 151

a very near point. This I say to excuse myself from any
imputation of inconsistency or wavering, further than that
wavering which any man must feel while making up his
mind on the acceptance or rejection of a very important
offer. Once more thanking you all for your kindness,
Believe me, ever yours affectionately,

J. M. NEALE.

In the next Ecclesiologist will be, all well, a long article
on the Scotch Prayer-book. I will send you a proof.1

7* B. W. July nth.

Now about the Deanery. I have made up my mind
to decline it, though, I confess, it has its advantages. It
would infallibly lead, if one lived, to a Bishoprick : and
that, even in the Tub,2 is something, But, i. I don't
think one ought to leave the English Church just now,
unless one had a clear duty so to do. 2. I know nothing
of music. That might be no objection if I should have
any one man under me who did : but that would not be.
3. Nothing in Scotland can be effectually done without
field and street preaching : and that my lungs would not
stand.

Haskoll wrote to me about the Synod immediately it
was over. As I hear, he made a good fight. I directly
wrote a notice of the Scotch Prayer-book for Christian
Remembrancer ; 3 they put it in, but so milk-and-waterized
as to be useless. E.g. where I said, " Which sets it so far
above the English Prayer-book," they put, " Which is
certainly according to ancient precedent."

And then, when he ought to have been fighting to the
knife against C. Wordsworth, Brechinensis goes prancing
into France !

To B. W. S. James (July 25th), 1850. S. C.

I was, after some little hesitation, at the meeting at Beginning
Palmer's yesterday — and am glad I was, for I think I of E-cu-

1 Ecclesiologist, xi. 125-133.

2 See letter of June 2oth, Manning's bbn mot, p. 145.

3 Christian Remembrancer, xx. 509.

152 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

prevented Keble from swamping the County Unions.
Everybody agreed with him till it was my turn to speak :
when I had the opportunity of expressing a bit of my mind
about the London Union ; and every speaker afterwards
dwelt on the great importance of preserving inviolate the
County Unions. A ludicrous thing happened. Mill, as
usual, went to sleep while Thorp was speaking. Thorp
said something rather strong, and saw Mill, as he thought,
shaking his head : in reality, nodding. " Ah ! Dr. Mill,"
quoth he, " is shaking his head : but I can assure him that
the facts are so." " What ? What ? " cries Mill, waking
up and staring round him. On the whole what was done,
I think, was not done badly : a Committee formed to
devise a method to have delegates from all the Unions to
a " Church of England Union." 1

To LAETITIA RUSSELL. S. James (July 25th), 1850.

Congratu- I was certainly not surprised, but yet very much pleased,
lation. with your letter. You will have everything that could
be wished for happiness, except better health, in Mr.
Lea ; and that we may hope that it may please GOD to
give him.

I am glad you wrote to Dr. Pusey ; for you seem to
have a little — perhaps under the circumstances not un
natural — wish to torment yourself.

Of course, where it can anyhow be, it is better that
husband and wife should not go to the same Confessor.

I have just returned from the Great Meeting : and such
a sight, I suppose, has hardly ever been seen in the history
of the Church. I was not in Westminster Abbey myself:
but they say that the effect of the Veni Creator and the
pause after it was very fine. I always have so many letters
to write after being away from home, that you must forgive
a very short one this time — and not measure my congratu
lations and good wishes by what you see of it, but by what
you know of me.

1 Beginning of E.G. U.

"DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER" i$3

To L. R. Aug. 20th, 1850, Sackville College.

While Fenn is making extracts for his Welchman on
the Articles from some of my books, I will write you a few
lines.

You ask, why the same Priest cannot well be Confessor Same Con-
to husband and wife. Putting aside the reason that it has ^banlT
always been so held, I think you must see, if you think, and wife
that it is almost an impossibility for him to receive the dePrecated-
confessions of both without, in some degree, betraying it
to the other. In anything which may have caused any
thing like disagreement between them, this is more especi
ally the case : and when you are married, you will feel the
truth of what I say more than perhaps you will do now.

I trust you will not be persuaded, by whomever it
may be, to think for one moment of giving up confession
in the same degree to which you have now been accustomed
to it. It is surely rather your place to lead Mr. Lea to
it, than to be led by him from it. I wish I could have
a good talk with you ; for there are a great many questions
I should like to ask you, which cannot well be done by
letters.

But ask anyone who has the slightest knowledge of
the subject about the question of the same Confessor to
husband and wife, and I am sure he will confirm what
I say.

To B. W. July 27th, 1850 (our 8th Wedding-day). S. C.

... I have written a short paper d la " Few Words to
Churchwardens." " Plain reasons for plain people why a
man may not marry his wife's sister." I intend to offer
them on Monday for No. I. of South Church Union
papers. We must do something.

Laetitia Russell is going to be married to one Walter
Lea * of Wadham. They say the delegation system is not
illegal, if we subscribe, say, 10^. to the County Union, of
which 6d. goes to the Church of England Union. But
clearly it is anyhow not more illegal than Westminster
Conference or Anti-Corn Law or Protestant League.
1 John Walter Lea.

154 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. Aug. 2nd, 1850. S. C.

I quite agree with you about the desirableness of
having the Gregorian Hymns well sung before all are
printed off. But it will be much more useful for correcting
what is written than for the first translation. When I have
a dozen or so ready I should like to come over to you and
try the Latin and the English. Then whatever is less
accented in the latter can be altered. It would be well
if at that time you also asked Helmore (who you know is
Proposed at Withyham) too. While I have the Breviaries round
Brevia°f me' * snould like to do something about the Ordo Com-
prayers. mendatwnis, the which I talked of as a part of your series
of Church Offices which we were to get up. One may
never have such an opportunity. I find many excellent
prayers in Breviaries, especially circ. 1480, not in the
Roman. Now do let us do this, and divide the work thus.
You translate the present Roman Office — merely making
such changes as are absolutely necessary to give the book
any sale ; I will make an Appendix from other Offices.
And so, for 2s. 6d., there is a complete Ordo. No one
can translate that sort of thing better than you, as you
have shewn in the translation of the " Mystical Mirrour."
I only have the Breviaries for a month longer.1

And not only did he test the Gregorian hymns by
having them well sung, i.e. with good choirs, but later on
he tested the possibility of their use by an untrained, or
little trained, choir, by having the children of the Orphanage
taught to sing the Alleluiatic Sequence to its own melody.
An afternoon's holiday in the woods, where the children
were to sing it, was the promised and appropriate reward
for the accomplishment of this.

"The One can understand his detestation, often expressed,

strain of Troyte's Chant for " The strain upraise." To confine

lse> that glorious hymn, with its irregular metre, within the bars

of a four-lined chant, must have seemed to him like putting

a lark in a cage, or accompanying its song with a sixpenny

accordion.

1 Christian Remembrancer, xx. 285-331. The Breviary.

OFFICES IN ENGLISH 155

To B. W. S. Matthew (Sept. 2ist), 1850. S. C.

No, I went as far as I could before. If the plan you
propose were carried out, the next Ecclesiologist would be
delayed with nonsense from Hope and others : and for
these two reasons my theory would have no chance. I.
Because there will always be more on the wrong side than
the right. 2. Because people had better have no rules
than any rules ; and 3. Because if rules there must be, any
rather than Roman. 4. I don't like Tentative papers. I Tentative
would never write anything till I was sure of the principle : 5a?-!rs,

. - i i T disliked.

and being sure of it, why should I, or you, pretend to
be doubtful ? So I withdraw the paper. But, as this
may put the Ecclesiologist to inconvenience, you are very
welcome to have the paper I read at the Oxford Archi
tectural Society. Half, perhaps, would come in this time ;
and if it supplanted the French notes, which only prejudice
people against us, I should be very glad.1

To B. W. Michaelmas Day, 1850. S. C.

I think that, nevertheless, I shall write my paper for
the Ecclesiologist. I look upon Dickinson's idea as rank
Oratorianism ; 2 but let that pass. The question is, not what
might be the best system, but what we can best do with
the present order of things. Latin as a standard there is
no present, I fear not much future, chance of getting. But
we now are called on to give English Hymns ; we soon shall The lan-
be to give English Offices, and the question is, whether in j^jjf^/an
popular, or in Ecclesiastical language. Here I apprehend offices.
D. would agree with me, and say, If we must have English,
don't let us have everyday popular dialect. The other
question, what language we should employ if the whole
English Offices were put into our hands, is an open one.
But in the hymns the question is an immediately pressing
one : e.g. why we should always say his, and not its ; why
never join the active and passive participles, as being glori
fied, in the present sense, only in a past, as He, being
exalted, i.e. He, forasmuch as He has been exalted ; We,

1 Ecclesiologist, xi. 217-226 ; xii. 3-11.

2 Christian Remembrancer, xxi. 141-164.

156 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

being persuaded: i.e. We, forasmuch as arguments have
been brought forward which convince us. Again, why we
should never say Let in a precatory sense, as Let them rest
in peace, but only in an imprecatory, as Let their habita
tion be void ; or an imperative, Let us pray. The only
expression in the Prayer-book which seems to be on the
other side, Let Thy merciful ears, is really, when considered,
very strong on mine. I was led to consider this subject
when I was learning Slavonic and Russ together ; before
which, in translating mediaeval hymns, I avoided modern
isms rather by instinct than by rule. And since that time
I have been thinking much of it. However, I don't want
it to be an Editor's Article, but I should like it to be put
forward as a general idea of Helmore's and my theory
with respect to the Hymnal. At all events, you will con
fess it is a curious subject.

* wish l were with y°u to-day. We shall have un-
Office commonly little here about

for « Michaelem, in virtute

Conterentem Zabulon,"

two of the finest lines, by the way, I think, in mediaeval

I quite agree with you about Helmore, but you can do
it better than I. For he will think me intruding into those
things which I have not seen, vainly puffed up in my fleshly
mind.

All good success to you on Tuesday.

To B. W. Sept. soth, 1850. S. C.

I had, anyhow, to go to London yesterday, and am very
glad that I was at Committee. There seemed no possible
hesitation in any way about the desirableness of the Hymns
appearing. Helmore and Sir John Harrington gave them
in prodigious style. Crompton, indeed, has rather a pen
chant for reducing Gregorian music to time ; but even he
does not think that could be done at present or popularly.
So that matter is settled : that they are to come out under
the general sanction of the C.C.S., like Miss Blencowe's
things. Also we agreed to send a copy of the "Noted

LITERARY WORK 157

Psalter " to Janssen, asking for his opinion on the matter ;
I am to write to him in Latin.

Of course, there is every reason why you all three should
come on Monday. Maberly is going to bring on the ques
tion of lectures ; I have advised him to move that it be
referred to the Sub-Committee, himself being added to it ;
and if you come, I think that this may be carried. But if
you do not, I have no hope that it will be. ... It was also
carried yesterday that it would be desirable for Helmore
to write a short paper for this Ecclesiologist on the advan
tages of the four-line stave ; and that I should say some
thing on vernacular Translation, which I can illustrate from
the Glagolita book. For this, therefore, you may look.

To B. W. Oct. igth, 1850. S. C.

I don't entirely agree with you about the Roman Hier- The
archy.1 I can't think it a blunder. Consider how often we ?omanh
have girded at them for having Bishops of Hippopotamus,
etc., how un-English and unreal we have said it was.
Surely, therefore, it cannot be a mistake to do now what
we have always said they ought to do. It enrages me to
hear of a man not being able to speak. Why not ? What
will be the use of anyone in Convocation if he cannot ?
One excuses, and truly excuses, writing in Pusey, but not
in anyone else.

I rather take to my sermons for Cleaver, not as sermons,
but as essays,2 on some points I have thought a good deal
about. I rather think of these among others : Unions,
Field preaching, Laity in Convocation, Funeral Guilds
(which will not in the least interfere with — but rather the
contrary — the Ecclesiologisf), and Direction.

Anderdon, as I suppose you hear, has given up S.
Margaret's, and will be led by his revered uncle. That's a
pitch of trusting a man at which I shall never arrive. I
think you would do as much as could be done to me in
such a case. That is, I feel pretty sure I shall never go
over while you stay, and I should pack up my heavier

1 See Christian Remembrancer, xxi. 200-222.

2 See " Lectures on Church Difficulties." Cleaver, 1852.

158 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

trunks if you went, to be ready for a start, but that would
be all. I think some things not generally known may be
told people with reference to Wiseman's appointment, I
mean as to the first Anglo-Roman Church. The Com
mittee had not a spark of Protestanism on the subject, and
were not for a moment disposed to talk d la Bickersteth
(or Bicker^t^ rather, as he is past). As to dying in the
Communion of the Church of England, I can have no
objection to saying that I hope it ; if in the Church of
Rome also, so much the better.

To B. W. Oct. 30th, 1850. S. C.

TheAnti- • • • Indeed you are mistaken about the Antiphonal.

phonal. Every Antiphonal must have three parts : the Vesperal,
for Vespers and Compline ; the Gradual for Mass ; and the
part in question for Matins and Lauds (which involves the
little hours). If there were no music for these the most
beautiful thing in the Breviary, the responsories to the
Lections would be left without it — and half the hymns. But
I have often abroad seen the Antiphonal for Matins, and
seen it used ; though whether it is published separately so
as to be got here, I doubt. Why, the melody for Custodes
hominum is properly speaking a Matin melody — for it is
that of the Sacris solenniis of S. Thomas, but what this
book is called, whether a Matutinal, or not, I must enquire.
You will have a proof of my two first sermons in a day
or two, if you won't mind the trouble of reading them.
The first is intended as a sort of addition to Newman's
Lectures — the tendency of the movement of '33 not to
Rome, which is most remarkably true.1 The second on
Church Unions. Cleaver is in such a hurry for them, that he
goes on printing as I go on writing. I have been reading
the " Historia Ecclesiae Slavonicae " — i.e. the Protestant
sects of Bohemia, Poland, and Lithuania, by one Wenger-
seius, which contains some very funny things. It appears
that the Moravians actually got a Bishop consecrated by
the Armenians. I never knew till the other day this, about
the denial of the Chalice. There is some degree of shadow
1 See Lectures I., II., III., in "Church Difficulties."

UNI AT LITURGY 159

of sense in denying it altogether, because of irreverence.
But what say you to this ? If a man of the Latin Rite in
Russia attends an Uniat Liturgy he does not communi
cate in both kinds with the other communicants, but in
one kind, at the end of the Mass by himself. This I really
call atrocious.

To B. W. Nov. 7th, 1850. S. C.

This Roman move will have thrown us, I am afraid, Roman
five years back. I am quite willing to believe all you say hierarchy.
about the difference between an internal and external
attack ; also Englishmen will always understand a fact
better than a doctrine ; and no doubt the Pope might have
consigned us all to hell without causing any particular
row. But still, see how the Bishops are taking the matter.
Did you ever see anything meaner than Gloucester and
Bristol in hindering Pusey from preaching — of course,
because of the [illegible] affair ? In fact, I am half disposed
to shut up shop.

To B. W. Epiphany, 1851. Sackville College.

It would have been quite impossible for me to come.
I did not get up till nearly twelve: and have not been
to Chapel these three days. However, having got rid of
my sore throat, I hope I have broken the cold's neck.
What I should propose is this : that we print at once Beginning
sixteen pages of hymns, in the cheapest and nastiest way of the
possible, to sell, if it may be, for \d. We have very nearly
enough for this. Then, when we have sixteen pages more,
we will get them out in the same way, paging on : and the
order will not be the least matter, because we can have
an Index. Now, write me by return, whether I may
venture on my own authority to have sixteen pages set
up for approval by the Committee. This can be done
in time, if I hear from you. I plainly see that, till we
give Masters an interest in it, he never will help the sale
of the Noted part. The hymns would be —

Eterne Rerum Conditor Sunday Morning.

* Jam Lucis Sunday Morning.

Nunc Sancte Nobis Sunday Tierce.

160 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Rector Potens Sunday Sexts.

Rerum, Deus Sunday Nones.

Lucis Creator Optime Sunday Vespers.

Te Lucis ante Terminum Sunday Compline.

Conditor Alme Siderum Advent Vespers.
Christe. Redemfitbr. \

* A Solis Ortus Cardine] Christmas Morning.
Veni, Redemptor Gentium Christmas Evening.
Audi, Benigne Conditor Lent Morning.

Ex More Docti Mystico Lent Evening.

Vexilla Regis Passiontide.

Ad Regias Easter.

Deus, Titorum Militum Common of Martyrs.

Celestis Urbs Hierusalem Dedication.

Urbs Beata Dedication Morning.

Angular e Fundamentttm Dedication Evening.

Salve te, Flores Holy Innocents.

Pange, Lingua, Glbriosi Corporis Holy Communion.

* Pange, Lingua, Glbriosi Praelium Passiontide.

This will make twenty-four pages, I see. If you think
I may venture it, they shall go off on Wednesday night,
which will give plenty of time. Those marked with an
asterisk are done. I have written to Novello, urging him
to advertise more. I wish you would do the same.

I shall propose at next Meeting —

(1) That the Society give Helmore and me each an
Antiphonal, which it is not fair to make us buy, as we get
nothing by the hymns, and without which we cannot do
the morning ones.

(2) That we each be authorized to distribute, at the
expense of the Society, fifty copies of the first batch.

Old Gream fights the matter out. I write to-night to
comfort him.

Now, when will you come over ? I do horribly want
you to see the Chapel, which will to-day be completely
finished. We had quite a sick house yesterday, but all
seem better to-day. " Sic, O sic," as Virgil hath it. Corny,
finding a great P. on the table, says, "P. stands for
Piphany, I suppose." My first idea of Saints' Days was
gained on this day, twenty-eight years ago, also a Monday.

1 See Ecclcsiologist, xii. 378-383.

APPEAL TO THE EAST 161

Don't forget that I want three things in the Ecclesiologist :

(1) S. Ninian's.1

(2) Broughton.2

(3) I want to answer the question why old translators
seldom do for us French hymns.

Ever yours affly.,

J. M. NEALE.

I have written as strongly as ever I can both to Gream
and West, not to give way : and have told the latter that
if with all his rank, influence, and money he surrenders,
" it will be something very like betraying us." Take your
change out of that, as Hope says.

To B. W. January loth, 1851. Sackville College.

As to intoning, I have got hold of a book which throws intoning,
more light on the subject than anything else, Sheridan's
"Elocution," published in 1713. From this it appears that
intoning, if not universal then, which the words imply, was
certainly the prevalent thing, and the aim of the book is
to get people to change it for the " French System of
reading." I am glad you like the form of the Hymns.
Remember that this is a Collection, not a Selection, between
which things there is all the difference in the world.

To B. W. January 23rd, 1851. Sackville College.

I am glad you wrote to the people concerned in an
Appeal to the East.3 If they are going about this without
having taken into their consultation someone at least who
has had actual experience of the intercourse with Eastern
Prelates — W. Palmer, or Blackmore, or even G. Williams,
or myself — all I can say is, that they will make the most
thorough mess that ever was made. I suppose that no
one, who has not tried it, has the least conception of what
we in the West should call their crotchetiness. You know
something of it from having seen Mouravieff s letters. I
owe Mouravieff an answer to his last : and I think I shall
ask him how best such a thing might be done, though I

1 Ecclesiologist, xii. 24-29. 2 Ibid., 45-49.

3 Encyclical of Pio Nono. See Christian Remembrancer, xxii.
209-249.

162 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

fear we shall gain nothing by it. That is a capital paper
of Scott's ; I have not made any alteration in the Spanish,
because I daresay he can correct it as well as I could, or
better. Why does he, contrary to all precedents, put his
name to it ? Reading in Gerbertus, I found a memoria
technica for Gregorians, which I translated. It may be
well known, but I never saw it before.

To B. W. January soth, 1851. Sackville College.

Petition I don't see much to object to in the form of the petition ;

^- except that it should state more plainly what we want.
No one can say whether we are asking them to consecrate
us Bishops, or to receive us to Communion without Bishops.
I would omit the part about Old Style as a mere detail ;
and would add to the last after "joining with us," — " Thus
exhibiting to our weaker brethren the same Apostolic for
bearance which the Holy Governing Synod enjoined to be
displayed towards the members of the Uniat Communion
when, in 1840, they returned to the bosom of the Orthodox
Church." But I think that the letter might be much better
done. It is so thoroughly English. Fancy a "dubious
theory of development" in Greek. The way should have
been to write in Greek and then translate into English
for the subscribers' benefit. Then again, no one in their
senses will give names till the authors of the scheme give
theirs. It would be a work of immense correspondence.
The H.G. Synod will not decide for themselves ; and who
is to carry all this on ? In my judgment it cannot answer ;
but that makes no difference if it is right to try. The
Filioque will upset it. I suppose that Blackmore, Palmer,
and I are the only men in the English Church who are
thoroughly convinced that the Latin doctrine is grievously
erroneous, suspected of heresy, and even (if logically carried
out) heretical. Half our men would never "alter the
Creed," as they would call it. The Bishop of Brechin is
very strong on the point. This mysterious nonentity of
the carriers-on must first be put an end to, and it, of course,
must be managed by a Committee. One can think of a
dozen names that ought to be on it. It is most highly

PROPOSED REVISION OF THE PRAYER-BOOK 163

important that the correspondence should be in Greek,
not in Russ, nor in English. I will write to Mouravieff,
all well, in a day or two, and perhaps to Philaret, of Moscow,
and you shall see the letters.

What do you think of this or a like resolution being
proposed at Southern Church Union General Meeting ? —

" We, the undersigned Priests and Deacons of the Church
of England, having heard that it is designed to propose a
revision of the Book of Common Prayer, to be carried into
effect by means of a Royal Commission and an Act of
Parliament, declare that we will never accept any revision
so made, and that we will continue to use the present Book
of Common Prayer until, should such ever be the case,
its revision by a free and lawful Synod of the English
Church."

I should like to propose this.

To B. W. Tuesday in Holy Week, April isth, 1851. S. C.

Dickinson seems to think that Confirmation would
hardly do to come early in the papers : 1 and that I had
better settle with you what to write. I think that Frequent
Services might suit me, and would not be inappropriate to
come soon. If you like to settle that so to be, write me
so at once, that I may fall to work.

Yes ; is not the Hymnal a poor tame innocent-looking
little creature ? and to think that such a venomous asp of a
beast should lie hid in it !

Try and introduce at least the Ad Coenam next week.
The music is just out.

ToB. W. Undated (185 1).

I am going to do what I can about the 2 Marriage
Bill here, but just now we are in great tribulation with a
vehement Anti-Popery howl, about our funerals ; and Har-
ward, like the little busy bee, improves each shining hour
on such occasions. Certainly Tractarianism, if anything
ever was, is unpopular.

1 Published in " Lectures on Church Difficulties." Cleaver.

2 See Ecclesiologist, xii. 86-90.

164 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I have written to Brechinensis, and asked him what the
Scotch Bishops mean to do. I have a letter from a Priest
to-day, saying that he has been convinced by my Essay on
the Filtoque,1 — wrote to J. B. Cant : for advice. Cant :
recommends the Bible. Priest wants me to tell him what
to do. What you call a mess.

The following letter, and other records of long past
troubles, are inserted for the sake of shewing my father's
and mother's brave spirit in facing any persecutions, whether
great or small. It was addressed "to the inhabitants of
East Grinstead."

March 1 5th, 1851. Sackville College.

GENTLEMEN,

Now that the unhappy excitement which has
" Letter to recently prevailed in the town seems in some measure to
the inhabit- kg aDated, I think that perhaps a few words of comment

ants of E. j i • r i . r

Grinstead." on> anc* explanation of, late circumstances, may not be out
of place. And therefore I adopt the only method in my
power of addressing you, — namely, a printed letter.

I shall be very glad if you will spend a few minutes in
considering with me what has lately happened, — and why
it has happened ; — the facts, and the reasons.

The facts are these : That on a certain Tuesday night
a mob of about 150 persons, many of them disguised,
paraded the town ; — that they carried torches, firepans, oil,
shavings, straw, and other combustibles ; — that they dis
turbed the place with their rough music ; — that they came
up to this College, burnt a bier, a pall, and crosses in our
field ; — smashed many of our windows, the stones being
thrown with such force as to indent the wall on the oppo
site side ; — lighted a fire against our house, which absolutely
melted the lead of one of the windows, and the flame of
which was seen above the roof ; — that the mob retired two
or three times, and returned to the assault, after having had
beer in the town ; — that, when I went out to speak to them,
they first attacked me, and had afterwards the cowardice
to attack Mrs. Neale ; — that this took place when my
children were, and were known to be, lying seriously ill ;

1 Cp. p. 131.

APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE 165

and that their illness was very much aggravated by the
fear and excitement, and the dense smoke with which the
house was filled. The fact also is that, during this riot,
which lasted nearly three hours, of the thirty or forty
respectable tradesmen in this town not one volunteered to
come to our assistance.

So much as to what happened : — now, why did it all
happen ?

Some of you will say, perhaps, " Because of the shame
ful proceedings which had taken place that day with respect
to the funeral from the College " : — some of you may
answer, " Because we are determined to put down all
Popery and Puseyism."

Let us take the first reason first. You know that a
certain mode of burial (never mind at present whether a
bad mode or a good mode) is in use at the College. You
know that in that use the inmates here (admitted since it
was our use) are pledged to acquiesce. They came for a
certain benefit : we exacted certain conditions ; and this
is one of them. If they did not like the conditions, no
one forced them to accept the advantage. But, — I speak
to you as to fair men — is it honest to avail oneself of the
benefit, and then to cry off from the terms ? I am now
looking at the matter in the light of a mere bargain. If a
man so acted in your market, he would never again dare to
shew his face there.

In the present case, Mrs. Aulchin, in asking for a room
in the College, entered with a full understanding of the
stipulations under which she held it. One of these stipula
tions was broken for her by her relatives after her death.
Was I wrong, as an honest man, in resisting a breach of
contract ?

But Mrs. Aulchin herself had twice expressed a par
ticular wish to be buried in this same College manner ; —
and had requested me to see that all was right after her
death. What, was I to act in express opposition to the
wishes of the deceased, because two of her relatives had
a fancy that her desire should not be carried out ? I think,
and I hope you will think, that I should have behaved

166 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

most unworthy of a Christian and a Clergyman, if I had
not spoken and acted for one who could no longer speak
and act for herself.

But now, what refusal had the relatives to complain of ?
It seemed, on the best consideration that could be given,
that, while there was not a shadow of moral justice in their
claim, it might possibly — for this was doubtful — be borne
out by the bare strict letter of the law. Lord De la Warr's
advice therefore was that, for this once, and under protest,
it should be conceded. I was prepared to let the relatives
manage matters in their own way : but, when they came
up, the College was surrounded with a perfect rabble of
people ; and neither with decency nor safety could all have
been admitted. I requested the relatives to enter : but
they refused to do so without the presence of others, whose
entrance would have been highly improper. As they
therefore refused to come to the coffin, I was obliged to
send it out to them ; — and the way in which the bystanders
rushed upon it proved the prudence of their exclusion from
the College. Having thus obtained what I had never
wished to deny, they went through the sad farce of opening
the coffin at an inn, to make sure that the body of the
deceased had not been abstracted from it.

I think, then, we come to this point : that, for the sake
of honesty, I was bound to resist a breach of stipulation ;
and, for the sake of respect to the dead, to prevent, as far
as in me lay, a departure from her wishes.

Well, a stranger might say, " But this mode of burial
stipulated for from, and wished by, the deceased, may have
been so very offensive in itself as to palliate, if not to
justify, the behaviour of the relatives."

What, then, is this mode of burial which is so peculiarly
obnoxious ? And remember, first, that, whatever it be, it
is not pressed on, — it is not even offered, — to any of the
inhabitants. Were I your Vicar, and endeavouring to
make it the parish use, you might have a perfect right to
express your opinions on the subject. As it is, it only
applies to a private establishment situated in the town,
with the arrangements of which you have no more to do

USE OF THE BIER 167

than with those of Abbot's Hospital at Guildford. You
have as little right to interfere with us, as we to interfere
with you.

This peculiar method of burial embraces two things, — Use of
a bier, and a pall. To the bier, no one in his senses would *^r a
make a religious objection. It is simply a sanitary ques- question.
tion. Those who have studied the subject, — which perhaps
none of you will ever profess to have done, — have long
seen how very unhealthy and indecent is the plan, preva
lent in this part of England, of carrying the coffin on the
shoulders. Long before the appearance of the late Report
on Intramural Interment, I, in common with others, had
called the attention of those in authority to the conse
quences, sometimes dreadful, always offensive, of the present
system. And the report itself of that Commission uses the
very strongest possible language against it. I suppose you
will allow such men as Lord Ashley, Dr. Southwood Smith,
and Mr. Chad wick to be fair judges on a question of this
kind ; and the manner in which their report was received
in Parliament is ample confirmation of their judgment. To
anyone who wishes to satisfy himself on this subject, I
will willingly lend that report.

To object to a bier, then, is simply a proof that, in
knowledge of sanitary requirements, the objector is behind
the age.

I proceed to the pall. The only difference between
ours and that ordinarily in use is this : an undertaker's pall
is black, with a white border : ours is dark purple, with a
yellow fringe, and a plain and most unobtrusive Cross, pre
cisely that of S. George's flag. I think I may assume that
it was the Cross only that offended you. If, indeed, it was
the colours, I would willingly alter those (though the more
proper ones) for the sake of giving pleasure where I can
conscientiously do so.

I am not going to enter into a religious controversy. I use of the
will rather quote what your Bishop says on a similar Cross •
subject, I mean the use of a small Cross, carried by the Bishop's
Sexton before the Priest, in Westbourne Church : (a thing, dictum.
I remark in passing, for which there seems to me less

1 68 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

authority than a Cross on a pall). He says, — and we
should all do well to lay his words to heart : " There is no
direction for this. But neither is there a prohibition.
And is it indeed true that we live in times so unhappy,
that the pure and religiously minded among us are right
fully scandalized, because a representation of that Cross,
by His death on which the SAVIOUR redeemed us, is pre
sented to our eyes, there being no setting up of it for any
reverence or honour to be done to it ? Is it seen nowhere
but at Westbourne ? It is embroidered, issuing from the
centre of the sacred monogram, on a very large number of
the pulpits and communion table cloths throughout the
kingdom. Somewhere or other (often in more places than
one) it is found on the outside of all our churches. And
in the very way in which you have it at Westbourne it is
used in most cathedrals, if not in many other churches,
including the cathedral near which I write. I trust I am
not superstitious, and sure I am that I have no leaning
towards the doctrines and practices of Rome, but I cannot
prevail upon myself to take any step toward the removal of
that simple emblem, so simply used, of that cruel death and
sacrifice by which a lost world was redeemed. He who
suffered upon the Cross has left upon record His warning,
that He came not to send peace upon the earth> but a sword.
Alas for the corruption of our nature that such should be
among the consequences of His mercy and His love ; woe
to them through whose sin the prophecy is anywhere
accomplished. May the parishioners of Westbourne,
henceforth, as they look upon the Cross in question, regard
it as reminding them of this denunciation, and as a warn
ing to each to take care that he be not the one through
whose sin it shall be fulfilled."

To this I will only add that the Westbourne parishioners
could not help seeing the Cross which the Bishop here
defends, if they did their duty by going to church ; whereas
our Cross need offend nobody, since nobody is obliged to
be present at one of our funerals.

Thus, then, we stand. But, you will observe, while I
do not pretend to dictate to you what you should believe,

BIGOTRY AND PERSECUTIONS 169

and how you should act (for that is none of my duty), you
do pretend to dictate to me what I should think and do ; —
and some of you have had recourse to the last resource of
a bad cause — brute force. You hear much and talk much
of Popish bigotry, intolerance, oppression, and persecution ;
did not the riot of last Tuesday week prove that these
things can be practised by some who are loudest in
exclaiming against them ?

And this brings me to the second reason which might
be alleged for the riot — that it was merely a demonstration
against Popery and Puseyism.

Now first, observe that the man who assigns this reason Religious
boldly avows the whole principle of persecution. If, in his J?
zeal for Protestantism, he may break my windows, — by the
same rule he may break my bones ; — if he may heap straw
against my house, and endeavour to set it on fire, he may
heap faggots around me, and burn me at the stake. The
more or the less of persecution does not affect the point.
Such acts defend the principle of the Spanish Inquisition,
or the fires of Smithfield. You cannot consistently con
demn these things and practise the like : you cannot
persecute and yet applaud toleration. Talk of liberality
if you will, — but then practise it ; or, if you are yourselves
justified in persecuting, boldly avow that others also are.

Let what you call Tractarianism, Puseyism, Popery, but
what 7 know to be the Faith of the Church of England,
heartily held, and honestly expressed, be as bad and danger
ous as it may ; — is this a likely way to put it down ? Is
it not certain that such outbreaks must strengthen it ?
Must they not necessarily confirm the sufferers in that for
which they suffer ? Will they not lead others to say, " There
must be something in these doctrines " ? Will they not
induce all fair men to regard with suspicion principles
allied with a disguised mob, and supported by a riot ?
There cannot be better advice than that of Gamaliel —
" And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let
them alone ; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it
will come to naught : but if it be of GOD, ye cannot over
throw it : lest haply ye be found even to fight against GOD."

170 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

And now in conclusion, it is my hearty wish that what
is past may be past. I am only sorry that the postpone
ment of the trial of those who were committed for the riot
must keep alive, till August, some soreness on their parts,
and on that of their families. But, for the rest, I trust that
we have seen an end, not only of open deeds of violence, but
as far as may be of hard thoughts and bitter speeches : at
all events, an end of calumnies which, if persevered in, will
oblige us to bring their propagators to legal punishment.
Give me credit for every good wish as regards yourselves —
for the most perfect determination in no way to interfere
with the concerns of the parish — and an equally resolute
determination not to suffer any interference with those of
Call to the College. I at all events have some claim to your
bearance?r forbearance. I might remind you that this College was
never before the ornament to the town that it is now : —
that it never was so full ; and that a larger sum of money
has been laid out in its reparation, and among you, during
the five years that I have been its Warden, than during the
preceding century. Let us try, therefore, to exercise this
virtue of mutual forbearance : you, perhaps, seeing some
things among us of which you disapprove, but which you
are not called to mend ; I, perhaps, viewing in the same
light some things done by you, but having no business to
interfere. And, in the meantime, we may at least, on both
sides, pray that " whereunto we have already attained,
we may walk by the same rule, we may mind the same
thing " ; and that " if in anything we be otherwise minded,
GOD may reveal even this unto us."

I have the honour to remain, Gentlemen,
Your faithful Servant,

J. M. NEALE.

To his friend he wrote —

You have no idea of my wife's courage, for she per
sisted in speaking to the rabble, even after they had pelted
her, and at last they listened.

CHAPTER XII
1851

" HYMNAL NOTED " — " MORNING CHRONICLE "

If they who fought themselves the fight,

If they who ran themselves the race,
Are circled with the crown of light

And see their Master face to face :
What guerdon his, who others too

Arms, aids, encourages in strife ?
Who keeps their country in their view,

And points in midst of death to life ?

IT was about this time, 1851, that J. M. Neale began to take
" his place in the forefront of modern hymnologists, as dis
coverer, translator, and composer." Of his translations Dr.
Overton, in the " Dictionary of Hymnology," writes : " It is
in this species of composition that Dr. Neale's success was
pre-eminent, one might almost say unique. He had all
the qualifications of a good translator. He was not only
an excellent classical scholar, in the ordinary sense of the
term, but he was positively steeped in mediaeval Latin. . . .
Again, Dr. Neale's exquisite ear for melody prevented him
from spoiling the rhythm by too servile imitation of the
original ; while the spiritedness, which is a marked feature
of all his poetry, preserved that spring and dash which is
so often wanting in a translation."

Many of the following letters show the details of the
method by which the " Hymnal Noted " came into being
under the auspices of the Ecclesiological Society. These
details, showing so much critical care and research, will be
specially interesting to those who regret the frequent altera
tions which mar so many of Dr. Neale's translations in
modern hymnals. With the appearance of the first part of

1/2 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the book in 1851 he wrote an article for the Ecclesiologist,
in which he says, speaking of the difficulties of a " Noted
Hymnal " and the " Gregorian note " —

Article in "We do not conceal from ourselves that it \spericulosae
plenum opus aleae. Our hymnology is confessedly the weak
175-179 point of the English Church ; heterodoxy in words, and
and 251. vulgarity in music, will still find their way into Churches
where, with this exception, the Office has ritual propriety,
and even dignity. It is not wonderful that of the three
requisites to a Hymnal — theology, music, and poetry—
scarcely even two, much less all, should be found together.
If we escape such heresy as

" When I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies,"
or

"Bold shall I stand at that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay ?
Completely clothed in CHRIST alone,
And all my filthy garments gone,"

then we fall into such poetry as —

" Oh, pluck them out, and be not slow
To give my foes a rap."

Or, if we, by great fortune, escape heterodoxy and doggerel,
then we have Sicilian Mariners or Cambridge New.

The proposed Hymnal, it need not be said, will be en
tirely from ancient sources. The hymns will be taken from
those in general use through the Western Church, before
the so-called Reform of Urban VIII. And the melody will
be that of the best books, and the most correct Churches."

And again, in writing of the Second Part of the
" Hymnal Noted," he says 1 —

" We have been more than once asked, why, with so
many already existing translations of the Breviary Hymns,
we have found it necessary to attempt one more in the work
of which we have now issued two parts ? In the following
paper we purpose to reply, as briefly as we can, to this very
reasonable question.

1 Ecclesiologist) xii. 11-16.

ARTICLE ON HYMNAL IN " ECCLESIOLOGIST " 173

And, first, we will say that we do not bring forward a
new version because we think all that have hitherto been
published unworthy of the original. Still less because
we hope to make so decided an improvement on all
as, by means of superior excellence, to make ours the
standard version. If we really believed either of these
things, we might justly be charged with most insufferable
arrogance.

Notwithstanding, a new version was necessary, and that
on the following grounds : —

1. We profess to give the only hymns which we believe Hymns
the English Church, without the act of a general Synod, to g°mlish
have a right to — those, namely, of the older English Office office
books, and principally that of Sarum. Now, to say nothing books.
of the many translations afloat from the Paris Breviary,
with which we, as English Churchmen, can have nothing

to do, except as matter of curiosity, the hymns that have
been translated into English are from the modern Roman
Breviary. But the hymns contained in this are — it can never
be too often repeated — a mere revision of the older com
positions, common for the most part both to Rome and to
Sarum, made by the literati of the court of Urban VIII.
These men bound themselves down to those classical
chains which the Church had deliberately flung away, and
sacrificed beauty, piety, fervour, poetry, to cramp the grand
old hymns into the rules of prosody. . . .

2. But, it will truly be said, many of the reformed and
unreformed hymns are so nearly the same, that in them,
at least, former translations might in great measure be
adopted. We come then to the second reason which for
bids this : the excessive rarity of translations made in the
metre of the original ; a point, to us, of clearly absolute
necessity.

We should gladly, if we might do so without invidious- Difficulty
ness, add a few words on the difficulty of translating Latin of .trans-
hymns. Most people seem to think that there is nothing
more simple ; and, so the general meaning is preserved
(and that is not always the case), they trouble themselves
with nothing further. But now, to take the first verse of

174 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

The the Vexilla Regis} Probably many persons would think
j^ a that it was to be read off without a thought ; but may not
these questions fairly be asked ? Does Fulget Crucis
mysterium simply mean, The visible Cross, with all its
mystic meaning, glitters before us ? or, The deep mystery
of the Cross, so long concealed, is now made manifest in
full light ? And, as connected with this, do the last two
lines mean, By means of which mystery the Maker of flesh
was in flesh suspended on the place of punishment ? or,
In which place of punishment the Maker, etc. ? . . ."

The " Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences " was also
published in 1851, and dedicated to the Rev. T. Helmore
"as a mark of gratitude for his labours in the reform
of Ecclesiastical music." A second edition, with very
numerous alterations and corrections, was brought out in
1 86 1, and a third in 1863, after the publication of" Hymns
Ancient and Modern," and of other hymnals, all of which
had adopted more or fewer of Dr. Neale's translations, but
with alterations. With regard to this subject, he wrote
in the preface to the new edition : —

" It would be, I think, merely unthankful to Him from
Whom all good things come, did I not express my gratitude
for the great favour He has given so many of my transla
tions (both in this and other works), in the English Church ;
and more especially, 'Jerusalem the golden,' 'To thee, O
dear, dear country/ ' The strain upraise/ ' Christ is made
the sure Foundation/ and 'The Royal Banners/ That
they have been a good deal altered in their various tran
scriptions was only 'to be expected; and I hope that the
remarks which I have here and there made in the following
pages on some of these alterations will not be taken, as I
am sure they were not meant, unkindly. In some instances
I thankfully acknowledge them to be improvements ; in
some I think that, had the reproducers studied the Com-

1 The Royal Banners forward go.

" Vexilla Regis prodeunt,
Fulget Crucis mysterium,
Quo carne carnis Conditor
Suspensus est patibulo."

HYMNOLOGY 175

mentaries of Clichtoveus and Nebrissensis, they would have
left the original as it was." (And here examples are given.)

Hymnology can hardly be considered at the present
time the "weak point" in the English Church, and it
would be difficult to over-estimate John Mason Neale's
work in this particular line. Perhaps his hymns have a
more widely spreading influence than any of his other
writings, whether it be his sermons, his Commentary, his
" History of the Eastern Church," or his " Church Tales."
There is probably no modern hymnal, Anglican or Non
conformist, where his hymns are not, and in some collec
tions they form a very large proportion. For instance, in one Proportion
of the editions of " Hymns Ancient and Modern," not less Of his
than one-eighth of the hymns and translations — 61 out of hymns in
473— came from his pen. In the " English Hymnal " more "Ancient
than one-tenth are his : 72 out of 656. In this later book
it is gratifying to find that, as a rule, his translations are etc
given word for word as he wrote them, and that therefore
at the great Church Pageant this year (1909) his translations,
unaltered, were used of the glorious hymns, Urbs Beata,
Angular e Fundamentum, and Dies Irae. (It would have
been still more gratifying had his name as translator Church
appeared in the Pageant book : the omission was surely Pageant,
strange : " Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers 1909-
that begat us.")

70B. W. March igth, 1851. S. C.

I quite agree with you that we should have a Com
mittee next week for the Hymnal only ; and so summoned,
in order that those not interested in it might not attend.
I wish you and the Committee knew how very little I care
whose translations are adopted, so they are the best, and
I very much hope that you will be able to persuade
Chambers to bring his, next time to the Committee (if he
does not like to let me have them in the meantime, which
would be infinitely more useful). I think any kind of
feeling about whose version is best, and whose worst, and
what is to be corrected and by whom, is all uncommonly
childish : and I have no sort of sympathy with it. I feel
two things, however ; the one, that there is much more verr^e.
mechanical craft in verse-making than the Committee making.

176 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

seems inclined to believe, and that may sometimes make
me seem pig-headed in not falling in with an alteration ;
and secondly, I see, by one thing that you now tell me,
that Chambers has very little studied Hymnology. In
answer to my question about providi^ he says it must be
the nominative. Why ? Because in one of those Archite-
lentic hymns that people amused themselves with in the
1 5th century, providi certainly is the nominative. Now,
anyone who has studied the subject, knows that the very
gist of those hymns was to bring in the words in the most
extraordinary sense, — if quite different from the original,
so much the better. The passage he referred to is, I
suppose, in the hymn on S. Anne —

" Ut transferamur candidi
Ad Coenam Agni providi "

(which, by the way, is not in the Sarum Breviary, but in
the Halberstadt). Now compare this, it is from a hymn
on S. Francis' Day : —

" Pro terrenis

Votis plenis
Reportat dona gloriae

Quern decoras

Quern honoras
Summe Deus clementiae"

Here summe is the adverb. But no one in their senses
would argue that in the hymn beginning Summe Deus
clementiae it is therefore an adverb. I could give you
plenty more instances of this. Was there no one in the
Committee who knew what the nature of those hymns
really was ? So much for that But let us have a Com
mittee on Monday or Tuesday.

S. Benedict (March 2ist), 1851. S. C.

MY DEAR WEBB,

I have written to Helmore, asking him to fix
Tuesday or Wednesday. My cold is a good deal better.

There seems some chance of S. Oxon. making this the
Hymn Book of his Diocese. If this be so, we must take
great care not to insert anything in the first part which
might offend.

HYMNS 177

What you say about something in Ecclesiologist on the
Synopsis is true. So I send something.

In my article for Ecclesiastic, I spoke of "sampling a
house by a brick." They printed, "a horse by a kick."

Keble wrote, that he knew none of the Sarum Hymns, Kebie
but he would get a book, and see what he could do. Why, and trans'
no man should attempt to translate any till he has the
whole at his fingers' ends. I think Masters hardly behaved
well about Chambers. He should not have mentioned
names. I only criticized that, as I should have done any
other book. I did not even say, though I felt it strongly,
that I am afraid this whole translation of the Breviary
will be ne sutor ultra crepidam. A man cannot take up
a work like that, as a par ergon from the studies of a life.
But people will intrude into those things they have not
seen. So much as he might have done usefully and better
than other men ; and he will take this ! What would he
say if you or I came out with a treatise on mediaeval canon
law?

To B. W. March 28th, 1851. S. C.

It strikes me that you have the opportunity of getting
both " The Royal Banners " and " The Lamb's High Ban
quet " (N.B. — I now make a point of calling them both by
their English names) for your congregation without expense.
Masters, you know, is printing one in 'stic (Ecclesiastic] and
one in Ecclesiologist, and he could strike you off as many
as you like. I wish you would do this and begin " The
Royal Banners " on the Eve of Passion Sunday. I have been
very hard at work on the Hymnal — have got it into form —
and intend going to town again to-morrow to get through
it, if possible, with Helmore. At all events, we can get two
sheets ready for press. I have an idea about it which
pleases me. Did you ever see Clichtoveus' " Commentary
on the Sequences " ? Well, I should like to advertise " A
Short Commentary on the Hymnal (published by the Proposed
Ecclesiological Society), principally intended for the use"Com-
of the poor. By a Priest of the Church of England." This ™^l
might attract notice to the Hymnal itself; has a sort of Noted."

i?8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

" improving the subject " air, which will take with Anglicans ;
while, on the other hand, nothing requires more bringing
out than the references in the hymns. And it would have
this good effect : to shew how much there is in these hymns,
as compared with others. I should make it a 1/6 book,
or so. Let me know what you think of it ; and keep my
counsel as to the writer. I have a good mind to advertise
it to-morrow.

To B. W. July 22nd, 1851. Sackville College.

I am sorry Helmore has persuaded you to the Eterna
in harmony. That sort of thing, I fear, will be the wreck
of the book. Very few choirs are capable of it ; and then
people get disgusted at a needless difficulty.

I have sent off a few notes on some of the Dutch rood-
screens.

Laity in Yesterday we proposed for one of the Resolutions at

General Meeting, "that it is not desirable for laymen to
have anything to do with doctrinal questions in Convoca
tion." * I wanted it to be, " to have any voice in Convocation
at all." Everyone agreed with me ; but it was thought
most prudent to limit the thing to doctrinal questions at
first.

To B. W. Trinity Sunday, 1851. S. C.

... I was reading to Agnes (aged 7) to-day about the
Council of Ephesus. When I was explaining to her that
the excuses of John of Antioch for stopping six days'
journey off through heat and fatigue were mere pretences —
" Yes," she said, " for if he had been in earnest, he might
have come by the next train."

The following letter is in reference to a post he was
offered on the staff of the Morning Chronicle. He was to
write three leaders a week, on favourable terms, and when
Parliament was not sitting was free to choose his own
subjects.

This engagement was terminated in 1853.

1 See " Church Difficulties."

"MORNING CHRONICLE" 179

To His WIFE. July 23rd, 1851. S. C.

I was glad to find your note when I got back. I can't Arrange-
help thinking how pleased you will be with my news to- ^^he
morrow. Ten guineas a week equals £546 a year ; which Morning
more than doubles our income, you know. The only chronicle.
possible drawback would be that, in the very rare case
where an article is absolutely required (say) for Tuesday,
and I, getting the materials by morning post, cannot finish
it in time for the coach on Monday, I must send a man
over to Three Bridges. I saw the Great Globe to-day, and
was very much edified by it. It is really very grand. It
corrects one's ideas wonderfully in two respects : first, as
to comparative size, for England is not much larger than
a fair-sized map, whereas Africa is gigantic ; second, as to
one's Mercator projection ideas, for Greece here points
towards India, not towards Egypt. The upper part is very
hot. But the vast extent of sea, the quivering motion of the
rarified air from the gas, before it, and the vibration of the
Galleries, would have made me quite seasick in a little while.

The Morning Chronicle money is to be paid fort
nightly. I could not get one to-day to forward you.
Corny has taken to his singing again. To-morrow, all
well, I will write to Agnes. Don't hurry back ; when you
are out you may as well enjoy yourself ; and you may as Article
well stay a few days at the Observatory. I am to have an on Rol^r'
article, all well, in the Christian Remembrancer this time, .. History
on Rohrbacher's " History of the Church" during the two of the
last centuries. They wrote this morning to ask Miss Baker Church-
to go to Croydon, not for her benefit, but theirs. Susanna
has not at present told her it was to excite both my mother
and Cornelia by means of a visitor. Corny sleeps, with
great edification, in our room. He offered some observa
tions this morning on the exact time that daylight may be
said to begin.

To His WIFE. S. Anne (July 26th), 1851. S. C.

To-morrow will be the first wedding-day which we shall
not spend together. However, I am far more glad that
you should be where you are, and enjoying yourself, than

i8o LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

that you should be here. S. James'-tide, you know, has
always been a fortunate time for me.1 First, and chief, we
were married in the Octave ; then the Altar case, for us,
s. James' on g> James' Day ; then the Bishop of Brechin here on
Shames'- ^- James> Day ; then the great party of choristers from
tide. Withyham, on the Octave. The Chapel begun on S. James1
Day ; and now this arrangement with the Morning
Chronicle. I am glad to see by your letter I have just
had, that you perceive the great advantage of it. This
morning comes over a parcel from Cook ; I shall have a
leader on Monday on " Extramural Interment." That will
make the first ten guineas due. Corny does not seem the
least tired after his exertions yesterday, but particularly
merry. He now knows, "Come, Holy Ghost, with GOD
the Son," to Gendelli's Ember melody, very prettily, and
is beginning to learn Eterna Christi Mimera. I think Mr.
Phelps must be coming here to-day ; a letter came for him
this morning and another this evening. I should be almost
afraid to take two services in such a large church : else I
should have liked very well to come. But you might as
well stay out, when you are there, as long as you can. Not,
my dearest Sarah, that I do not very much wish you to
come back ; but you don't often get a holiday. They say,
from Croydon, that May is very happy, and so is Ermy
here ; and Corny is very good. I hope you will have a
good sight of the eclipse. There is no doubt that, if you
know where to look for them, you may see stars of the first
magnitude ; and Agnes can notice the birds going to roost.
I hear that the Apology was signed yesterday (S. James'
Day again), but I have not yet seen Mr. Burt. Dinner is
ready, so 1 leave off. I hope you will see Peterborough
before you come back. Here is the baby playing at taking
things out of my paper-basket and running out with them
to shew to Abigail. On Monday afternoon, all well, we are
going to Felbridge Water, according to a proposition of
Miss Baker's ! As to what you say about the time taken
by the Morning Chronicle^ it will not be much : because,
you see, the leader must generally be written between 12.30
and 2.30. Now all the world is come into the study talking.

1 See p. 368.

LEADERS IN "MORNING CHRONICLE" 181

To His WIFE. July soth, 1851. S. C.

Enclosed is a letter from one Harper to you. As he Leave
seems to expect you to answer, you can tell him : i. That ^rantec
he may take anything he likes out of my " Mediaeval h°yrmns.
Hymns," and may mutilate it in any way he pleases.
2. But that he may not take anything at all out of the
" Hymnal Noted " ; nor the things in the " Mediaeval
Hymns " which are in the " Hymnal Noted." As he has
got both, he can see which these are.

We are going, all well, to Felbridge Water this after
noon : May and Ermy and two servants in donkey-cart ;
Corny and we in the coach. Wombwell's menagerie is
coming to-morrow. I should like to have seen May with
the beasts ; however, I must be at Brighton, so they will
have to go without me. I hope the little petkin does her
lessons better. A great many kisses to her.

To B. W. Aug. lyth, 1851. S. C.

I have only written as yet seven leaders for Morning Morning
Chronicle, but they were all on Ecclesiastical subjects, Chronicle.
except one, concerning the accident on the Brighton rail
way. As to politics, I neither know nor care twopence
about them. I must write another, all well, on Monday-
I find they serve as a sort of whet to do my favourite
business ; and don't bother one more than a game of bowls
will set to rights.

Here is a S. Augustine's man staying with us. That is st. Augus-
the most wonderful Institution I ever heard of ; the business tine>s'
is all but miraculous. The students are so delighted with
Helmore's Psalter that, for their own pleasure, they sing
it daily ; but are not allowed in Chapel to chant, much as
they wish it, and have asked for it.

Did you know that Monro's boys offered to strike, if
he forced it on them ? That does not speak much for
Master Monro's training in a moral point of view.

Aug. 24th, 1851.

I am rather pleased that you cannot make out my
articles in the Morning Chronicle. There was one on

1 82 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Friday ; and will, I believe, be another to-morrow. Now
try. I find it uncommonly little trouble.

To B. W. Aug. 27th, 1851. S. C.

Jansenism. I have just finished the Dalmatian History, and a
great folio book it is, and a great many funny things it
contains. Among others, that Jansenism1 is the second
beast, who compels men to worship the first beast, Calvinism.
Dickinson is going to send me a great many Jansenist
books for my article in the Christian Remembrancer.

This is worth knowing. When poor De Dominis took
possession of his See, he determined to preach whenever
he thought fit, and not only at Mass. This was so extra
ordinary a thing at that time, that the Sacred Congregation
of Rites had to be consulted as to his vestments.

To B. W. Aug. 30th, 1851.

... I would myself take in J. B. C. (Archbishop of
Canterbury) and provide a keeper for, say, ;£iooo a year-
I could not do it any cheaper. His ravings will be dreadful.
There was a Patriarch of Alexandria who went mad : and
when he began to blaspheme, his Bishops smothered him
without more ado. A similar commission might now
issue to H. E. (Bishop Philpotts of Exeter). I could
assist at the operation.

To B. W. Nat. B.V.M. (Sept. 8th), 1851. S. C.

jansenists I nave been reading a good many more Jansenist books
and since I wrote those letters, and am just now in the middle

Jesuits. of the Abb(§ Bellegarde's " Histoire de 1'Eglise Utrecht." 2
Of course there are weak points in the Jansenists ; but
their weakest point is strength compared with the Ultra-
montanes. Granting all that their adversaries said, it
comes to this, that, in times of great difficulty, one or two
proceedings were a little irregular ; whereas the Dutch
Jesuits are found to lay down this principle, that, where
there is not a Catholic monarch, there cannot be Diocesan
Bishops. Is not this Erastianism of the worst kind ?
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xxiii. 89-152. 2 Ibid., xxv. 328-344.

A REMONSTRANCE 183

The giving up of some services in Dr. Mill's parish of
Brasted, where Mr. Webb was curate, seems to have been
the cause of the following remonstrance from his uncom
promising friend. The remonstrance was effective.

To B. W. Oct. 4th, 1851. S. C.

It puzzles me more and more what is the use of going
to Derby to pass a series of milk-and-water resolutions.
However, I suppose it will do no harm. The Sussex
Express negotiation failed this morning. We must set
another on foot. . . .

What a pity that a man like Mill should have such a
battle to fight ! Now, to me it would be meat and drink.

Oct. ;th.

I am just starting for Derby : therefore I cannot answer A remon-
your letter at any length. But you cannot convince me strance
the least but what you have all made a very grievous mis- sSSes
take. There is no possible extrication from this dilemma ; given up.
either, you did not know whether you were right in your
services, in which case you ought to have given them up
long ago ; or, you did know that you were right, and then
there is no excuse for giving them up now. As to what
you say about Badely, what has he, or can he have, to do
with the matter ? or what can any lawyer in the present
state of things know more of the rights and wrongs than
you do ? You say you would have done differently your
self ; but in the same breath you say that Mill could not
have done otherwise : which I cannot understand. At
present I would rather have done as West did than as
Mill has done. If I must give up a principle, I would
rather do it for the sake of keeping people in the Church,
than of submitting to the tyranny of an heretic. I would
rather satisfy the public than an Episcopal bully.

As to what you say about my not liking the trouble,
I might most safely ask you, or anybody else, when I ever
made a trouble of writing anything that could have the
slightest chance of benefiting a good cause. But yours

184 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

is not a good cause — is not a cause at all — till you restore
what you have given up. Tell me you have done that,
and I will write or do anything, or go anywhere that could
have a chance of serving you.

70 B. W. Oct. 2oth, 1851. S. C.

Services I am rejoiced to hear that you did begin again yester-

restored. day^ j^. ^ same timej j nejther do, nor ever shall,

reproach myself for not helping when there was nought
to help. In one sense, Mill has done better than if he had
never yielded, because it requires so much moral courage
to retrace one's steps. But in another, of course you are
not, as regards yourselves, on the same vantage ground ;
and as regards others, many will follow Mill, like Peter,
in his error, who will not follow him in his repentance.

To B. W. 2ist Sunday after Trinity, 1851. S. C.

Jansenism. I hope that my article on the Jansenists will be the
best thing I have done for the Christian Remembrancer.
At all events, it takes time enough. One satisfactory
result I come to, which is, that our articles are much less
Jansenist than some of the Jansenists'.

Will you come over to the S.P.G. jubilee here to
morrow ? Harward (the Vicar of East Grinstead) in the
chair. "But me thy servant, and the mighty men thy
servants, hath he not called."

7V> B. W. Nov. 4th, 1851.

First men- I begin to think these Sisterhoods more real than I
*ion of did. At all events, there ought to be an Order, for twenty

oister-

hoods. good reasons.

To B. W. March 22nd, 1852. S. C.

You must not allow yourself to be led away by Hope,
who, however unintentionally, seems quite to have mis
represented what Newland has done and is doing. I quite
agree with the end Newland had in view, but I don't,
as I tell Hope, justify the means. He clearly had no

FREE TRADE 185

business to write to the four Western Unions, and stir
them up against Morning Chronicle — (if he has done so, Morning
for this I only gather from Hope's letter). But he has %£££
no silly antagonism against M. C. for Free Trade principles : Trade.
all he sees is that if the paper allows itself in, not the
principles themselves, but the gross and ungentlemanly
personal attacks on Lord Derby with which it has lately
been full, it will ruin its own circulation among the country
clergy. This Newland sees, and energizes, not very wisely
perhaps, but with a very good intent. Hope, who knows
as much of country clergy as I do of members of the
House of Commons, will not, or cannot, see the danger.
But I am positively certain, from my mere motion and
certain knowledge, as they say in the Bills, that if the
M. C. continues in its fierce mood six months longer, it
will not have a single subscriber in Sussex, except some
members of our own Committee. It is this consummation
which Newland wants to prevent. I daresay he spoke
strongly, and Hope is angry with him for doing so : and
writes to me that he wishes his feelings on this point to be
no secret. But this is all very silly. Remember, if I a
Free Trader, and hating Lord Derby, can see a good deal
of force in the general feeling, what must those who see in
Lord Derby not only their own politics, but (as they think)
a Church Ministry — what must they think of this ? Your
comparison about Brighton Guardian is not to the point,
because we are absolutely responsible for nothing but
the Sussex Church Union, whereas in the M. C. we are
responsible for much more — especially when the Church is
brought forward in a political article — e.g. in that offensive
one persuading the clergy, from their pecuniary interests,
to be Free Traders.

Depend upon it, the wisest thing you can do is to press
this seriously on Hope. Neither he nor M. C. is infallible,
and he speaks as if both were. I shall write to him again
about it. What is true of Sussex is true of other agricul
tural counties. I know it to be true of Devonshire. Say
the feeling is stupid. But we cannot force men to be wise.
We cannot compel them to buy the paper. They gulp

186 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

down a great deal because essential to M. C.'s interests.
But they will not, and ought not to be expected to gulp
down what is not essential.

I plainly see I shall be between two fires. Hope will
be disgusted that I don't swear by the Morning Chronicle ;
Newland, Gresley and Co. that I don't swear at it. I must
do what I can to keep the peace, — a new office for me.

CHAPTER XIII

1852-53

LECTURES — TOUR IN DENMARK — BISHOP OF
LONDON'S INHIBITION

Ye who are fighting the battle for England's Church and her glory, —
Time there will be, there will be, though we never shall see it in this

world,
When by the hands of the men that come after us GOD shall upraise

her;

She whom we fight for now be no more despised and rejected,
But an eternal praise, and a joy of all generations.1

THE lecture delivered at Brighton, of which the next letter
speaks, was published afterwards under the title of "The
Bible and the Bible only the Religion of Protestants."2
(Masters.)

To B. W. Feb. 2oth, 1852. Brighton.

I made a great hit last night. The room (in spite of
a fire close by, which obliged the engines to be taken
through where we were) was crowded ; and there was a
good deal of manifestation of feeling both ways. The
subject was " The Bible the Religion of Protestants " ; and
it was a great thing to pledge men like Gresley and others
to anathematize that word. There was one scene. Some The word
fellow stood at the door, handing about papers, calling on "Pro-
the clergy to defend the Bible against false doctrine. So testant-"
when I got up I read that, and told the assembly that
was exactly what I came to do, for I was there to defend
the Bible against Protestantism, which made an uproar.

1 The author's latest published words, dictated on his deathbed,
see p. 367.

2 See Christian Remembrancer, xxiii. 507.

188 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

A fellow nearly made me laugh. " Let me tell you," I
was saying, "what the Eastern Church says of Rome."
He bellows out, " He that believeth not shall be damned."
The doctor was in the chair. He lectures again on
March I2th.

To B. W. March sist, 1852. S. C.

I intend, all well, to write my sermons next week.
Would it be any help if I send you Monday's or Tuesday's ?
I suppose the mental powers of our respective congrega
tions are about on a par. I preach twice on the Hymns
" Sing, my tongue," and " Thirty years," and you can't
think what good texts they make.

Wednesday in Easter Week, 1852.

... I did not send you any sermon because I after
wards remembered that all your old ones would tell there
(Webb had just gone to Sheen), and be probably more to
the purpose than mine.

Laydom. Depend upon it, you are wrong in not resisting laydom.

I believe with you that it will come in : but the more
we resist, the less obnoxiously shall we be infested with it.
The Scotch Bishops meet in Synod on the 2Oth about it.
Brechinensis tells me that they stand thus —

For laydom. Against.

Edinburgh. Primus.

Glasgow. S. Andrew's.

Argyle. Brechin.

Moray doubtful.

But as Aberdeen is timid, and S. Andrew's cannot be
there, he fears it will go hard with him. I confess I
cannot see why you are disposed to take this quietly. I
doubt if it be not a greater departure from discipline than
the denial of the Chalice. If we are to give up everything
in which we seem likely to be beaten, where shall we
stop ?

I think, all well, to go into Denmark the loth of next
month. Then I shall hope to see what the movement

SUPPLEMENTAL OFFICES 189

really is there. I hope to go over Jutland as well as the
islands.

To B. W. SS. Philip and Jacob (May ist), 1852. S. C.

I have two plans in my head, in both of which I want
you to join me. (i) I want that we should bring out
a Calendar for next year — beginning from Advent, which
will give us a start of others — on Sarum principles, and
get what Bishops we can to authorize it. These we might
get at once : Exeter ; Bath and Wells ; S. Andrew's ;
Brechin ; Capetown ; Frederickton. (2) I want to bring Suppie-
out a series of Supplemental Offices for the Church of %^s for
England : e.g. Compline, Dedication of Church, Reserved Church of
Sacrament, Laying First Stone, Dedication of an Altar and Eneland-
of Altar Plate, Commemoration of Saints, Mass at Funerals
and Marriages, etc., etc., etc. Convocation will soon meddle
with these things ; and though we may not get all we
want, it is well that we should direct attention in the right
channel. The first is the most urgent. Will > ou join with
me in it ? If so, I will do a month, and send ;t you as a
specimen for your correction. J. H. Parker might be a
good publisher.

I enclose part of Alleluiatic Sequence, which I want to
try at Anniversary. I think you will like it extremely,
especially where the B flat comes in.

In June he started on a tour through Denmark.

To B. W. June 2nd, 1852. Cologne— Ostend line.

I daresay that I shall find enough to do on first
getting back, so I write to you now. I left off at Copen
hagen. On the Monday I crossed to Malmo, in Sweden,
and so on to Lund. The Metropolitical Church is one
of the finest Romanesque buildings I ever saw ; the crypt
beats Canterbury ; and the stalls are the most delicate
Middle Pointed. In the evening, back to Malmo ; Tues- Church
day, crossed to Copenhagen, and at night by railway to Denmark.
Roeskilde. This Church, you know, was quasi-Primatial
of Denmark, wonderfully stern Romanesque, and has very

190 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

interesting monuments. Wednesday, through Zealand.
A very lovely island ; Ringstoed Church grand Roman
esque, and all the village churches of the same date and
excellently worth seeing. At the Academy of Soroe, and
at Stagelse, I had introductions ; and everywhere met
with the greatest kindness. It was lucky for me that
I had read a good deal of German in the course of last
year, so as to be able to converse in it. Every educated
Dane speaks German, but scarcely anyone French. At
night, very late, I came to the West point of Zealand,
Corsor. The next day crossed the Great Belt in a steamer ;
and so to Nyborg, in the Isle of Fiinen, and so by
diligence to Odense, the capital. The Cathedral is interest
ing, but not very fine. — (These tunnels bother one ; but I
more and more wonder that you can call the line between
Cologne and Aix dull.) — Well, that afternoon I went to
Middelfart, the extreme West point of Fiinen. Next
day crossed the Little Belt, here a mere stream, and began
the Jutland part of my tour. At Copenhagen, everyone
stared when I spoke of going to Jutland ; said that nobody
ever went, that there were no roads, that the people were
absolute savages. The Secretary of Legation told me that,
though he could speak Dansk like a native, he would not
in Jutland, trust himself there alone. I was there three days ; and
certainly I never saw, nor could conceive, such wildness.
I travelled on foot or on a basket waggon almost night
and day — for here you can " take " Churches from 3 a.m.
till 10 p.m. easily, and the people seem always up. The
Churches are all Romanesque, and all brick ; the brick
mouldings most interesting. The Cathedrals of Ribe,
Viborg, and Aarhuus are glorious (Aalborg I did not see).
The roads they did not exaggerate at Copenhagen ; gene
rally there are none. You can almost always see from
Church to Church, and you walk right across the heath.
Here German is no use, and the patois so excessive that
even Danes find it difficult. I was almost reduced to panto
mime. Nothing to eat but sour black bread, and a kind
of smoked cheese. The last day, I confess, I was nearly
worn out (and you knpw it takes a good deal to do that

TOUR IN DENMARK 191

to me). However, I bagged Churches right and left. On
that day I hired a basket waggon, and though I and my
knapsack are no great weight, and we were on the best
road in Jutland, three horses were absolutely necessary.
When we were not going over the heath, the wheels were
often up to the axles in sand. On Whit-Sunday I came
to Aarosund on the East coast ; and thence a steamer took
me to Kiel, and so to Hamburg again. Thence, directly
to Liibeck, the most interesting city, except Cologne, I ever
saw. The Cathedral and the Marienkirche are unrivalled
brick buildings, and the Heiliggeist Spital has a choir
324 feet long, which forms the Hospital, like that of which
I can't remember the name — that we saw once in North
amptonshire. So back to Hamburg, yesterday to Cologne,
and to-night I hope to be in Dover. Here endeth my
tour, from which I learnt more than from any 25 other
days of my life — and, I think, worked harder. As to the
Danish movement, it is all humbug ; there is none. There
are about ten men of influence who are dissatisfied with
the state of things, and wish for something better, though
they are not agreed what. They, of course, have their
followers ; Grundtwig is the best, and in his way (but what
a way !) learned. Rudelbach, I think, comes next. But
these men defend Presbyterian Ordination tooth and nail.
Grundtwig says that nothing could make him doubt his
own orders. Now as to G. At the age of 69 he lost his
wife. Within nine months he married again — a widow — on
the avowed principle that he was so much in love he could
not help it ! and that for the leader of the movement ! I
don't want to be hard on the man, but what sort of a
being must he be ? Again, the Danish Prayer-book enjoins Danish
Confession. It has, practically, become obsolete ; that is,

before the so-called Eucharist, the Priest exhorts Com- Confession.
municants to confess ; then, they kneeling at the altar,
he lays his hands on their heads, and absolves them in
nearly the Roman form. These men have not reintro-
duced Confession, or scarcely, and don't seem to care
about it. In fact, it comes to this, what we call Christian
they call Catholic. They do wish to be Christians, they

192 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

do believe in the Incarnation, and in the Trinity, and in
the Real Presence — and that is about the amount of what
they mean. All this I must dilate upon in Morning-
Chronicle. It will not please Hope, I am afraid. How
ever, I have now quite made up my mind about the Danes,
and will fight against them to the knife.

Many of the following letters relate to the second part
of the " Hymnal Noted," which was published in 1854.

To B. W. Vigil of S. Peter (June 28th), 1852. S, C.

"Hymnal I told you this morning that I had sent off the Synopsis.
N^ted," j jiaye keen thinking a good deal over the matter, and it
payment, seems to me but fair to say something more. There are
sixty-seven hymns (and probably will be more). Of these,
some sixteen are Chambers's, and about nine are my own,
taken from my " Mediaeval Hymns." I shall, I reckon, have
forty-five to do, a greater number than all those in the first
part together. I daresay we shall have help : but it is just as
much trouble to recast as to write, and some of Chambers's,
also, if used at all, must in some measure be recast. We can
not have such rhymes as Paraclete and Infinite, — course and
cross, etc. Now I reckon that a hymn takes me an evening
to do : some may take less : but others take more. The first
concoction of the book will take forty-five evenings : and the
trouble of correction, proofs, etc., will be probably just about
double. Now you very well know that no one cares for
labour less than I do ; especially when, as now, it is a kind
that I like. But I very much doubt whether, unless the
Society in some degree pays, I can really afford this.
You see it cuts both ways. Not only I give up the time
that I might spend for myself, but I also, in some degree,
give up my tools : and the loss is serious. Of course, any
one will say that you ought to be paid, and that Helmore
ought. That you are not is undoubtedly a most grievous
shame. The only difference I see in the case is that there
is not such an influx of business upon you at any time as,
with the Guilds and the Hymns, there will now be upon
me. Except Morning Chronicle, I shall hardly be able

TOUR WITH HIS MOTHER 193

to do anything else. Helmore ought undoubtedly to be
paid : and if it is proposed for me, it must be for him.
But here again I see some little difference : namely, that if
his time were not spent for us, I doubt whether it would be
spent in any way lucrative to himself. I will tell you what
I think would be fair, and the Society, we know, can afford
it. We ought to have £20 apiece for the second part. It
will not, of course, pay for the time, but we must take what
can be given. Of course, if you don't think this can be
proposed, I must work for nothing, and will. I only tell you
what I think it would be fair for the Society to do : if they
don't think so too, I am sorry for it, and must go without
the money.

I send you the only two translations I have yet made.
Return them to me with any remarks. I will continue to
send them — and it will be easier for you to read them one
by one than in a lump. If your wife will try them, she
will do good service to the Hymnal.

The next letter was written on his way out to Aix
with his mother, who was an invalid.

To B. W. Aug. 9th, 1852. Tirlemont.

You have no idea what an undertaking it is, the getting
my Mother to Aix. Five days' travelling have brought us
here, which, as you know, is a good bit on your side of
Liege : but I hope to be able to get them to Aix to-morrow.
The advantage, however, is, that I have seen, in the morn
ings and evenings, almost as much as if I were by myself:
and we came a (to me) new way. What I principally saw
were the Cathedrals of S. Omer and Tournay ; the latter
one of the grandest Romanesque buildings conceivable,
with apsidal transepts ; and some very good Churches
in Tournay. At Brussels, where we spent Sunday, I went
to the College S. Michel, where the Bollandists are now Boiiandist
located. I found them exceedingly civil, — Father Bosser Llbrary-
especially. He took me all over the Library ; shewed me
a good quantity of letters of ancient Bollandists, Bellarmine,
Maldonatus, and others. Then I sat with him for some time

j94 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

in his room, and he shewed me their last proof: they are at
page 500 of the 55th volume, and it will consist of 1000
pages and embrace four days. I looked over their Missals
Sequences. for Sequences : and what I wanted they promised to copy
themselves. Their collection of Missals, as being of little
use to them, is not extensive : they had only three, Con
stance, Nuremberg, and Pecsvar in Hungary, that I did not
know : but that of Breviaries is exceedingly fine. They
have more than fifty before 1 530. I mean of more than fifty
different Churches. They knew my name, Father Bosser
having been twice in England. This morning, I was some
time at work in the Burgundian Library at Brussels ; they
have a fine collection of Missals. I got some good Sequences
out of one of Cologne, and one of Maestricht (1239). At
Mechlin a droll thing happened. My Mother had a great
Be-guinage desire to see a Beguinage : thinking it, I suppose, the most
at Mechim. protestant sort of nunnery. Accordingly we went. The
Superior was all courtesy, and my Mother much pleased
for a minute or two ; at last said the Superior, " Est-ce-que
vous avez envie de vous vouer, Madame ? " whereat my
Mother experienced much horror ; and speedily retreated.
There are two very good Churches here, but it was too
dark to take them : I shall have time, all well, to-morrow.
One thing I hope : to write " The Churches of Maestricht "
for the Ecclesiologist. I believe they are good, and they
are seldom visited. I shall make an effort for Roermonde
Cathedral, a place which is not even mentioned in the
guide-books. At this moment I am completely ignorant
whether Maestricht is Protestant or Catholic. I went over
a very well-arranged house of Sisters of Charity at Tournay,
and to be sure the contrast with Miss Sellon's Obedience
is curious. Just now I bought a book of vernacular Flemish
Hymns with the tunes, approved by the Vicar-General of
this Diocese : we may make something of that. I heard
a very solemn High Mass at Tournay ; but that at Brussels
was horrible ; and the cloture of the Octave of S. Alphonso
Liguori in the new Church of the fashionable Quartier
Leopold last night, and the Te Deum, was a disgusting
specimen of organ-loft singing. I want to see how they

"HYMNAL NOTED" 195

manage the difficulty of the Walloon language in the
Southern Dioceses : and as I shall probably return by
Namur, I shall have, I hope, the opportunity.

Aug. 1 8th.

There is just now a perfect rage for church restoration
in Belgium.

To B. W. Sept. 6th, 1852. S. C.

Helmore works well, I think, at the Hymnal : but «• Hymnal
Chambers is very impracticable. He won't correct my Noted."
Hymns ; and I don't think he likes my correcting his.
What he ought to see is, that, if he publishes another part
of the Sarum books, he and we ought to have the same
version of the Hymns ; and ought to work together. My
own theory is this : we ought both to translate all the Arrange-
Hymns. Then, I sending him a copy of mine, he corrects ments ^
it by adding what he thinks the best part of his own ; I do Hymns!"1
the same by him : then we compare the two corrected
copies, with the intention of making them the same : if we
disagree on any subject, refer to the Committee, whose
decision is to be final. But Chambers has a mighty idea
of doing everything by himself. It is a great pity. I wish
you would try and persuade him to be more conformable :
e.g. He has done Collaudemns Magdalenae, but I cannot
get him to shew me his version — nor can I get him to look
over mine.

How have you liked my leaders on Convocation * in
Morning Chronicle ? The lists were also my doing.

Sept. 1 8th, 1852. Sackville College.

MY DEAR WEBB,

You promised, you know, that as soon as your
consecration was over, you would set to work in earnest
about the Hymns. Yet you have had the Aestimavit
hortulamim and the rest a fortnight. There is no use
sending more till I get those back.

I have reviewed the new Hymnal for Ecclesiologist, and

1 M. C., July 28th to August 2$th, 1852. See also Christian
Remembrancer, xxiv. 342-384.

196 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

would have got the Synopsis ready to-day, but that I am
going over to Brasted, Mill being alone to-morrow, and not
well.

Chambers, I think, after all, will work with us. Scott
clings to the idea that it is best for him and me to send in
our separate translations to be judged of by the Committee ;
whereas, of course, the only right way is to compound the
best parts of the two into one. Of course, there must be
one Editor, and that being so, such a plan as Chambers's
would make dreadful confusion. But I doubt not that he
will come round. Now do send those hymns back.

What follows, if you do not already know it, you must
keep to yourself. What Cook may have told Hope, or
Hope heard for himself, I know not.

Cathedral Government are pledged to a Commission into the
abuses of Cathedrals. The Bishop of Oxford's idea-
which I have from him through Newland — is to turn this
to good account by getting Convocation in their address
to petition the Queen for such a Commission (before the
intention of Government is publicly known), and that it
may report to Convocation. This he wished worked in the
Church papers. On this I wrote to Cook, sketching out
the plan of working it, — which he approves. I shall work
very cautiously up to it, — beginning on Cathedral abuses.1
You will see that leader, I hope, on Monday or Tuesday.
This, I think, may be made something of.

Just now I scarcely know which way to turn, the dis
gusting Seatonian sitting on me like a nightmare.

To B. W. Sept. 23rd, 1852. S. C.

I have your Hymn, which I much like — also Chambers's
Aestimavit and O Maria. All you have marked as want
ing alteration in mine, or nearly all, I agree in : and I
will, all well, return them as soon as I can satisfy myself
a little better. We cannot take too much pains with
them, and there is not now the violent pressing hurry
there was for the first part. On Monday I hope to have
finished the disgusting Seatonian, and then have at the
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xxix. 332-368,

BISHOP OF LONDON'S INHIBITION 197

Hymns. My leader to-day in the Morning Chronicle
was written at Brasted. I have the others in my head. Attending
Just you bear in mind what I said about your services ;
and content yourself, while so far from the Church, with
going, as a rule, once a day.

In a previous letter he had said —

I think you are wrong to try and go yourself to every
service. You and Heygate ought to divide the thing. It
is not only running the risk of laying yourself up, but it
must also put a stumbling-block in the way of the neigh
bouring clergy, who, if they think daily service x so absolute
a burden as you make it, will naturally shrink from it all
the more. When you get close to the Church, of course it
will be a different thing.

The Bishop (Blomfield) of London had inhibited J. M.
Neale on account of a passage in one of his sermons in
" Readings for the Aged " on the doctrine of the Real
Presence. He referred the Bishop to the teaching of the
Primitive Church as expressed by S. Cyril, and to the
Catechism. The correspondence on this difficulty includes
a letter from Dr. Newland, whose advice he had sought.

To B. W. Undated. S. C.

I have hit on a line about the "Readings for the
Aged " that I think you will approve. The enclosed is to
the Bishop of London. I have embodied the same thing
in a letter to Newland, which I substitute for that I sent
you yesterday. You see the dilemma. He cannot now
condemn me without condemning S. Cyril, that is, the
doctrine of the Primitive Church ; and men professing to
be orthodox must be on my side, when I use the words of
the Catechism.

Nov. 8th, 1852. S. C.

I think S. Cyril's words are much more explicit than Re his
mine. He says clearly, " Which is not bread," and that I f^l
take to be the only thing of importance. In the difference Presence.
between not bread and not simply bread lies I think nearly
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xvii. 335-347.

198 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the whole question. As to substance and essence, etc., it
is a mere dispute of words. We ought, of course, to keep
from a dispute on this point, if we can. If we do come
to it, we shall have this advantage, however : that we can
bring forward such clear dogmatic expressions in the early
Church, so much clearer than we could about Baptism or
Absolution.

Winchester (C. R. Sumner), some two months ago,
wrote to Harrison of Reigate that he heard he was using
"Readings for the Aged," in which Transubstantiation was
asserted, and that it should be used no longer. H. stood
to his great guns, and answered that nothing but Anglican
doctrine was contained therein, or he never would have used
it, and that he should continue to use it. Nothing more
happened.

November 9th, 1852.

I am very glad you approve of S. Cyril. The Bishop
of London has sent no answer at present, and I do not
think he will be in a hurry.

Fortunately enough, a new edition is wanted, so I need
cancel nothing ; and I can add a Preface with reference to
the matter.

Nov. loth, 1852. S. C.

MY DEAR WEBB,

C. J. L(ondon) will have nothing to do with
S. Cyril, as you will see. It is curious how completely he
pitches primitive doctrine overboard.

Now I want you and Mill to tell me what to do next.

Shall I write a pretty full preface to the second edition of
" Readings for the Aged," making it separable from the
book, and shewing—

1. That if S. Cyril held Transubstantiation, Rome has
preserved and we have corrupted primitive doctrine ?

But—

2. That he did not hold it ?
Or what else shall I do ?

I write before second post, and may have then some
thing to add. I finished my last Danish letter last night,

APPEAL TO S. CYRIL 199

and sent Ribe1 to Masters, and so I am game for the

Calendar.

Ever yours affly.,

J. M. NEALE.

Afternoon.

Comes a letter from S. Oxon., very civil and kind, but
not agreeing with S. Cyril ; but I shall stick to him, never
theless : and will alter my letter according to your and
Mill's advice. I had myself thought that it would be best
to add something about Transubstantiation. I have now
122 names to my petition. Having written my letter to
Newland conformably with your and Mill's alterations,
then do you think, if it depends on me, that it ought to
be published or not ?

Do of your charity finish my December 2 that you have,
for this Episcopomachy takes time.

From H. NEWLAND to J. M. N.

Nov. nth, 1852. Plymouth.

DEAR NEALE,

I send you back your letter unaltered, in token
that I hold with you and S. Cyril in doctrine, and that,
as omne majus in se continet minus, if I hold by it as
it stands, I certainly will hold by any modification you
may make in the expression of it.

Now on the question of discretion. I wish our Puseyites, Dr. New-
who talk about the " doctrine of the sieve," would practise ^nd s
what they preach, and not keep all the jaw to themselves quotations
and leave all the reality to the Evangelicals. My opinion is, from
that if you were to go to Alexandria with your " Readings " ' yn '
under your arm and S. Cyril's own quotations in it, that
energetic saint, supposing him still on earth, would call
you an Egyptian goose in the very best Greek he could
muster, which would not be very good, and would pack
you home again by the very first overland India mail,
for giving his own sentiments, true as they are, to a
parcel of ignorant fellows with a great Roman schism
before them which he had never thought of. Indeed, I

1 " Ribe Cathedral," Ecclesiologist, xiii. 416.

2 Ecclesiologist for December, xiii. 367-444.

200 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

should not be surprised if he called them heretics, and got
you thrashed by his Parabolani as a " factor," by way of a
little fatherly correction ; for S. Cyril was apt to call things
by their right names, and not to stick at trifles.

Depend upon it, if you get through these Symplegades
of London and Chichester, it will not be without some
little damage aft. Make up your mind to loose your old-
fashioned Egyptian rudder, which is not calculated for our
waters, order a patent steering apparatus from Oxford or
Exeter, and depend upon it you will lay your course just
as well and make a precious deal better weather of it.

In plain English, say, " I repudiate the Romish doctrine
of Transubstantiation, I do hold with S. Cyril, etc., etc. ;
but considering that these words are open to misinterpre
tation, and anxious to guard my readers from the Romish
doctrine aforesaid, which I repudiate, and which I am
convinced S. Cyril himself would repudiate, I say " — so-and-
so, and then put in something which is not liable to be
turned into Romanism. It is not pleasant for a man to
say he was wrong — less pleasant for a man of mark than
for any other — but you were wrong, and you must retract
It is a case of life and death with you, and you may be
thankful that you can retract without retracting doctrine.

Yours,

H. NEWLAND.

To B. W. Nov. 1 5th, 1852. Reading.

I have had a great piece of good fortune at Birming
ham. One of Oldknow's congregation is a coffin furniture
manufacturer (there are but nine in England). He is a
capital sort of man, and most eager to unpaganize the
trade. He spent yesterday evening with Oldknow, and
to-day I have been over his manufactory. He throws
himself thoroughly into our scheme, and will stick at no
expense ; and he is very well off. I have therefore written
to Street for designs (knowing that he has time to give
his attention to the subject), and I shall have the dies
made at once. Cooksey, that is his name, has convinced
me that we ought at first to work in coffin metal, because

ILLNESS OF HIS SON 201

only so can we rival the other things in cheapness. He
has given me a pattern book, pattern plates, and a vast deal
of information. Undertakers now will order no " Gothic "
ornaments ; they not selling, being thought Popish.

His only son, a child of six, was at this time dangerously
ill, and had been placed under homoeopathic treatment by
his father's strong wish. The boy and his mother were
at Brighton, staying with Mrs. Neale, senior, a sufficiently
uncomfortable arrangement, as she herself was strongly
opposed to homoeopathy. The treatment was successful,
and my mother, who had been doubtful about it, became
as firm a convert to homoeopathy as my father.

To His WIFE.

November or December, 1852. Three Bridges.

I cannot tell you, besides all the other sorrow about
Corny, how much I feel for you, as regards this treatment.
I hope you believe that I feel a tremendous responsibility
of thus going against everyone, and that I do not shut
my eyes to what everyone will say if things end otherwise
than as we hope. But you must also remember, that if
he were under any other treatment, and it were to end
unfavourably, I should never forgive myself for having
sacrificed him to save myself from responsibility. My
dearest Pet, I do not believe but what GOD will have
mercy upon us. And remember how very few trials we
have had, and how happy we have been ; so that it would
be most unthankful to complain now of this. Remember
that there is nothing in the world to despair about ; to
have one child dangerously ill after ten years of marriage
is less than most people can say. My mother had had two
at the very brink of the grave. We have a right to take
comfort in this also, though we neither of us rest on such
secondary considerations. Whatever we may be ourselves,
and whatever we might expect as far as our own deserts
went, still you know that we are both descended from The
more than one of GOD'S servants ; Corny, therefore by two promise
lines : and we will not believe that the promise of the
Second Commandment is made null. And again we know ment.

202 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

how many people pray for us, — therefore for this very thing.
Whether you should say anything to Corny himself is a
difficult question. At his age, it would not have agitated
me in the least, but he is much more sensitive than I was,
and besides, it might directly affect the disease. On the
other hand, we make the case no worse by looking on the
dark side ; if he is not now told, now that he is in danger,
he may not be able to be told at all. Or if, as we trust,
he is restored to us, it may strike him as strange that he
was not told. On the whole, I would do nothing one way
or the other till I had asked Dr. Madden what he would
do if the case were his own. He is, we know, a good man
so far as his light goes, and is certainly a better judge
than either you or I can be. I think, to talk of an inferior
matter, you must yourself be satisfied of Dr. Madden's
wisdom in not attacking symptoms, as my mother now
wishes him, and as I did wish him (about the cough), to do.

To B. W. Dec. 7th, 1852. S. C.

Bishop of Corny, thank GOD, is going on very favourably ; our
inhibition accounts to'day were the best we have had. The Bishop
withdrawn, of London has formally withdrawn his inhibition. The
proposal was my own. I offered, without retracting, or
qualifying anything I had said, to substitute another
sermon : stating in the Preface that, as what I had said
in that sermon had been, in my opinion unaccountably,
mistaken, I had put another in its place. Now, I hope
you do not think I have made any concession I ought
not. To my mind, I have absolutely conceded nothing,
but if you think I have at all betrayed the truth, I will
retract at once what I offered.
I consider —

(1) That the Bishop is fully aware that I hold now
exactly what I said before.

(2) That I have said the same thing in twenty other
places, and hope to do so in twenty more.

(3) That there is a great difference between conniving
at a man's preaching, and formally allowing him after
inhibition.

BISHOP BLOMFIELiyS INHIBITION WITHDRA WN 203

(4) That with my " Church Difficulties " l poked into the
Bishop's notice, his allowing me to preach is rather a great
thing.

(5) That the Bishop has opened the door as wide as
ever he could : he never even hinted at my qualifying in
the Preface what I had said.

(6) That this doctrine2 being so ticklish (?), we must
escape a dtnotiement^ if possible.

Still, if you think I have done too much, let me hear by
return of post. I will take your opinion here against my own,
for I am dreadfully afraid of seeming to give up a point

To His WIFE. Christmas Day, 1852. S. C.

A great many happy Christmases to you, and no more
away from me. I was afraid you would be rather in the
doleful line: but when we have you back again you will
forget all that. I am very glad, on all accounts, that Corny
boy sleeps with Abigail. Last night we had the midnight Midnight
service, to my great edification. Master Trice and I rang Service.
the bells, it having pleased Master Martin to go out after
supper without leave — for which he shall receive a lecture.
There was a full party at supper, and they devoured mince-
pies with great spirit [the old people at the College]. I
am writing now whilst waiting for them to come in from
Church. It is so mild that, if the weather continues fine,
we are going out with the donkey chaise to look for prim
roses after dinner : and then I have promised to shew
Mary some phosphorus. Baby is to dine in Hall.

It was very stormy last night, at least very windy, and
the effect of the Chapel when we came out in the midst
of the night and the storms, was very lovely.

Poor " Master Martin " was another College worthy, a
warm-hearted old man, and a great favourite with us all,
in spite of his faults. Unfortunately, he possessed a weak
head, and too many friends in the town to treat him,
the result being that he was finally expelled from the
College. My father used to lecture him and warn him ;

1 Christian Remembrancer •, xxiv. 249-250. 2 Ibid., xxvi. 263-299.

204 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

my mother, with the charity and humility of a mediaeval
saint, did her best for him, sending him off to bed when
he came in noisy and quarrelsome — even sometimes taking
off his boots for him herself, in order to keep him out of
mischief. But the College statutes were appealed to by
those who saw the offence, and would not see the extenu
ating circumstances, and were pleased by this means to
gratify their enmity to the Warden : sorely against his
judgment the old man had to resign his pension and leave
his comfortable home.

The following may have been written at this time.
Strange to relate, this is the only letter which my brother
can give me. By an unfortunate accident, all his father's
letters, including many written to him when he was at
Rugby and Cambridge, have perished, whilst this trifle,
indelibly printed on the child's memory, remains.

Sackville College.
MY DEAR LITTLE CORNEY-BOY,

I hope you are getting better, and will soon
be strong and able to run about again.

Last Sunday we dined in the Hall and drank your
health at dinner. We had the pig for dinner ; but he was
very fat, and the College people did not like him much.
So I made the following rhyme : —

Master Wren grunted when

He beheld the pig.
Master Martin had a part in

Making him so big.
Master Everest, he could never rest

Till he tasted it.
Master Trice was too nice

To devour a bit.

Give my love to Aunties and Grandmama.

Your loving Papa,

J. M. NEALE.

To B. W. Feb. roth, 1853. S. C.

Turkey Don't you trust that the Montenegrine affair will

and the eventually end in the division of Turkey between Austria
and Russia?

SCRIPTURAL COMMAND FOR NEWSPAPERS 205

First Sunday in Lent, 1853. S. C.

I plainly see that we shall get into a difficult position
with Morning Chronicle if this Ministry stays in, and
Gladstone proves, as I suspect he will, a scoundrel. What
ever other Scriptural command M. C. violates, it will keep
that in the Epistle for to-day, " Giving no offence in
anything, that the Ministry be not blamed."

To B. W. Easter Monday, 1853. S. C.

They have been setting up a Mechanics' Institute here,
in which I have taken a good share, thinking to do some
thing that way. It was the first time that I ever practically
acted on the Education line, and I am persuaded that it is
the right one.

CHAPTER XIV

1853-54

TOURS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL — TABLE-TURNING
— BISHOP GOBAT — TOUR IN HOLLAND

The game is got with little joy,

That's got without pursuing :
And if the maiden were not coy,

There were no bliss in wooing :
The victory that is lightly won

Will lightly be forgot ;
We'll say the more, "That shall be done,"

Which others say shall not.

IN May, 1853, and again in 1854, J. M. Neale went for a
tour in Portugal, with the object, as usual, of studying
Ecclesiology,1 and also of writing a handbook of the country
for Murray. His companions on the first tour were Bishop
Forbes of Brechin, Canon H. L. Jenner, afterwards Bishop
of Dunedin, and J. H. Rogers, M.D.

They must have been a noticeable party, for the Warden
of Sackville College was the shortest of the four in stature,
and he was only just under six feet.

The following description of them was written by him
in the " dog " Latin in which he often amused himself by
writing nonsense verses : —

QUATUOR VlATORUM DESCRIPTIO.

Quatuor Hispaniam lustrant viatores,
Insunt in his quatuor perdiversi mores ;
Medicus, Episcopus, Gustos, (ne ignores),
Quique stat Canonicus inter juniores.

1 See Ecclesiologist, xiv. 171-177, 247-264, 358-366, 381-391 ;
xv. 37-43, 110-117 ; xvi. 1 6-2 1 — under signature O. A. E.

TOURS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 207

Praesul l primam inter hos habet dignitatem,
Lustrans sacerdotii, quae sit, pravitatem,
Quae pars adhuc retinet incolumitatem,
Quae jamdudum cecidit in iniquitatem.

Aliis dat Medicus 2 mentem speciebus,
Et perdocte disserit de naturae rebus,
Cuncta scit quae aspicit variis diebus,
Et a cedro Lebanon ad Hyssopum, Phoebus.

Sequitur Canonicus? nee se unum fatur,
Partim illi, partim huic, cum assimilatur ;
Salomone doctius Flos ab hoc tractatur,
Atque de Ecclesiis multa fabulatur.

Adstat Custosf ultimus, qui, scriptor librorum,
Fuit (vera fateor) causa taediorum ;
Hunc nunquam satietas coepit oculorum ;
Heliogabalus est — helluo templorum !

Sibi semper Quatuor fiant in juvamen,
In labore requiem, in malis levamen,
Inter Lusitanicos latrones solamen,
Atque tuti redeant — Dicat chorus, Amen.

The following letters were written to his wife and
children, the letters of both years being grouped together.
Dr. Oldknow was his companion on the second tour.

Monday.

Up at 4.40. Jenner and Rogers both ill. The Bishop
and I started in a small diligence, hired for the occasion,
for Azpeitia. This is the birthplace of S. Ignatius, and the Birth-
only house in Spain the Jesuits now have. A glorious ride : g^J
like the finer, not the finest, parts of Wales. The pass, atofLoyoU.
its summit, about the height of Helvellyn, I imagine. A
good deal of snow had fallen during the night in the
mountains, but the valleys were bright with cowslips and
primroses, and even in the higher part of the pass the
willows were beginning to put out their leaves. Two
horses to the diligence : two oxen, additionally, at the top

1 Bishop Forbes of Brechin. 2 Dr. J, H. Rogers.

3 Canon Jenner. 4 The Warden of Sackville College.

208 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

of the pass. Reaching the summit of the pass, and begin
ning the descent, the little brown town of Azpeitia stands
at the rise of the opposite hill, and stretching away to the
left is the vale of Loyola. The castle stands half a mile
from the town — already, from the heights above, seen to
be an elaborate piece of Renaissance restoration. This
was the castle where S. Ignatius was born : the tradition,
" assez respectable," our guide said, is that it was in a stable
at the bottom of the grand staircase.

Wednesday Evening.

Burgos. I do thank GOD that we have seen Burgos Cathedral.

On the whole, it is the finest I know — reckoning up all the
interest of different kinds it possesses. We have also seen
all the other churches in Burgos, about eight. As to diffi
culty in seeing churches, I never met with so much civility
— at the cathedral in particular. To-morrow, all well, we
start for Palencia, a seven hours' journey. As to our goings
on, we have coffee or chocolate as soon as we are up, an
almuerzo at one, and dinner after dusk. This room is a
very good-sized one, with brick floor ; two large sleeping-
places open out of it ; the Bishop is now lying on his bed
in one : I am sitting at the foot of his room and discours
ing with him, and it is striking eight p.m. We are pre
sently going down to dinner. You can't tell how much
I hope to hear from you at Valladolid, and how very
anxious I am about your going on well, and the rest. . . .
Now I will write to Mary. I hope Master Wren 1 reads
that prayer from the "Itinerary," though I did not tell
him.

To HIS DAUGHTER MARY.

MY DEAR LITTLE MAKIN,

Papa is now writing in the middle of Spain, and
you can find the place on the map : it is called Burgos.
Do you know that when people travel here the coaches
are not drawn by horses, but by mules — ten or eleven ; and

1 The College porter, acting as Chaplain.

TOUR IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 209

when they come to a very steep hill they put on ten oxen,
and take off most of the mules. The man that drives has
not a whip long enough to reach the foremost mules, so
when he wants to do that, he ties the reins to the coach- Mode of
box, jumps down, and runs along till he gets up to that tr;
mule, and makes them all gallop together, and then he
jumps up again. He is always crying out and shouting to
them, else they would not get on at all. I have not yet seen
many shops of playthings ; but I daresay we shall come
to them by-and-bye. There are a great number of black
sheep here, and goats too ; and the cheese they eat is made
of ewes' milk, and is very nice. I travelled all Monday
night with a little boy and girl, and their mamma, and
three sisters, and one of their names I don't think you ever
heard before — Dolores. They were so very tired, and slept
so soundly ; and then the little boy looked something like
Corny. The little girl was very much amused because I
could not speak Spanish; for she thought that everybody
must be able to speak Spanish, just as you would think
that everybody is able to speak English. Now it is almost
supper-time, and I hope you have been fast asleep in your
little bed this hour and more. Good-bye, my little pet :
and GOD bless you all.

To His WIFE. May I2th. Fonda de las Frutas, Palencia.

We had a beautiful morning at last, and got down
to the diligence about seven. The road to Valladolid is not
a royal road, and the conveyances accordingly deteriorate.
The country now becomes vast plains of grass, with low
hills skirting the horizon ; droves of mules meeting or
overtaken ; the road a succession of quagmires, but still
getting down from the high plateau on which Burgos
stands, and the vegetation, in consequence, each hour
becoming forwarder. One pretty little church at Celada
we had time to take : and at Torquemada we stopped for
dinner. Here we had our first foretaste of what we may
expect in Portugal. This is the frontier town of Estre-
madura, and we were glad enough to bid farewell to
Castille, with its bleak, barren hills and cold prairies. The

210 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

river which divides the provinces is red, which gives an odd
Paiencia. effect to the scenery. We had all intended to go to Palencia,
for the sake of the Cathedral. But a Frenchman whom we
met at dinner declared that there was nothing to see, and
that the best inn was " horriblement mal." The latter
assertion I had no doubt was true enough: the former I
knew was a lie ; but the Bishop got frightened, and accord
ingly we compromised the matter by his going with Rogers
to Valladolid, while Jenner and I came across here. We
were told that at a place called Magaz we should find a
" little coach " to take us to Palencia. So we bade the
others good-bye, and got down at a thoroughly Spanish
pothouse. We " took " the Church, which has a most curious
early Romanesque apse, and then we were told that the
" little coach " was ready. So it was : a covered cart with
out springs, a tilt of reeds, a horse and a mule, yoked
tandem-wise, and the mule absolutely without any reins
whatever. We drove on full gallop where we could ; the
man that drove alternately smoking and perfuming the
place with garlic, for six miles, and then we saw the towers
of Palencia in the distance. A most picturesque place ;
bales of bright-coloured cloth hanging down the sides of
each house (for it is a cloth mart), arcaded streets, in the
most quaint and tumbledown fashion, and at last we got
to this inn. Certainly it is "horriblement mal." We
ordered "cena a las ocho" — supper at eight — and went
out. First to the Cathedral, which almost rivals that of
Burgos, but which we have not yet fully seen, then to San
Francisco, a curious Transitional church, then to Santa Clara,
a convent church, where the nuns, fourteen in number, were
singing Matins. These churches are most excessively dark ;
the windows few, high, and small ; wonderfully effective
and religious, but exceedingly gloomy ; a sort of Philip II.
style of religion. When I went to take the outside such
a crowd gathered round me that Jenner got quite nervous ;
but I am more used to it than he. They were perfectly
well behaved, and we finished the church in peace. Then
to the parish church, a Grecian building ; and so back.
This was our dinner: — I. Salad with rancid oil; 2. Two

TOUR IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 211

boiled eggs (N.B. — No spoons) ; 3. A hind quarter of lamb,
very stringy, weighing about three-quarters of a pound ;
4. Three little trout in rancid oil ; 5. Two cheese-cakes,
and an abominable piece of sheep's cheese. We were quite
in despair, and issued forth to find a pastrycook's, much to
the amusement of the boys, who hooted and yelled at our
hats. At last by good fortune we hit on one, and when
I began, " Est-ce que vous parlez frangais, Monsieur ? " he
burst out, to my great joy, with " Moi, Monsieur? Je suis
Marseillais." So we had a chat with him, and some of his
pastry, and some very good sherry : and it sadly made me
feel how far we are from home that the mere hearing
French should make us feel so near to it. If we have time
to take the Cathedral first, we propose starting by the tow-
boat to-morrow to Valladolid, at six a.m., down the river
Pisuergi. It is about five hours' voyage. The beds here
are so wringing wet that it is quite hopeless to think of
undressing.

Whitsun Eve.

... I never saw a Catholic country that looked so The
little like one as this — closed churches, scarcely a cross, Philippine
everything cold and degraded. In the evening we went to C
the Philippine College. This is a foundation of Augustinian
Hermits, spared in the suppression as having been the
school of clergy for the Philippine Islands. We were intro
duced to the Rector and Master of the Novices, and the
latter took us over the whole. Some vestments, worked
by the natives, are of most lovely details — the designs
wretched enough. The sub-rector of the Scottish College
walked about with us, and described the desecrated con
vents and so forth. They have about forty-four students
for the Philippines ; they sent out thirty-five last year.
The quadrangle, with its lilacs, wall-flowers, and fountain,
is very pretty. Then to the English College. Here they
have now only fourteen. The walls are hung with con- English
temporary portraits of the Roman Catholic martyrs in the College.
reign of Elizabeth. They confirm here at the age of three ;
first Communion is thought little of. Some Jesuits are

212 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

now here, who are trying to make more of it. The popular
images are very bad. The " Santo Cristo," as it is called,
is vested from the waist in a kind of petticoat, and the
images have sometimes real hair stuck on. This morning,
to the Cathedral, the nave of an immense unfinished
modern building. Then to the Library of the Museum.
Here are an immense number of Spanish Ecclesiastical
Historians, and a very fair theological collection, 14,000 in
all, from the suppressed convents. There were no Missals,
but I found a Palencia Breviary of 1545, and a Compostella
one of 1569, and got some hymns from them. We also
went to see the University Library — not so good as the
other ; the librarian — an ecclesiastic, too — not only spoke no
language except his own, but actually could not understand
a Latin sentence, when written down as plain as print.

May 2oth. Bragan^a, Traz os Montes.

Portugal. Here we are, fairly in the wildest part of Portugal, and
having just concluded an engagement with a muleteer to
take us to Porto, I begin to write to you. We left Zamora
on Wednesday morning about nine, our cavalcade consist
ing of three mules and a horse — our first essay in muledom.
Accordingly we mounted outside the city, and in my first
two attempts to get on I was kicked off. Neither Jenner
nor Mr. Rogers had a much better fate; at last we sent
away the most vicious mule, and got a somewhat better
one. The road lay over high table-land, covered with gum
cistus in full flower, acre after acre ; and in the barer parts,
under every group of ash trees or elms, was the wild
peony, and the whole landscape quite purple with a kind
of lavender, with very large flowers. . . . We dined at a
place called Ricovalle, but the country presented no very
striking appearance till we reached Castro, the last village
in Spain. Then our contrabandista friend, having, I
suppose, reasons of his own for avoiding a more public
road, took us across the most lovely country — something
like the Chiddingly rocks, only on a much larger scale and
with water — down to the little stream which here divides
Spain from Portugal. We entered Portugal with great joy

TOUR IN PORTUGAL 213

at 4.30 p.m. ; but when we stopped at the first village,
Paradella, to get some wine, behold, my poncho had some
how slipped off the sumpter mule, and could nowhere be
found. I offered the landlord a dollar if anyone would
bring it on to our inn at Miranda, but with very little hope
of ever seeing it again. We reached Miranda at dark, and
had our first experience of Portuguese inns. Our beds A Portu
were in a passage with two little attics off it— a good deal ®
worse, I should say, than any place in Pobgee's l premises :
mules in the lower story ; a kitchen opposite to us where
the smoke found its way out of a sort of cavern. Here
we got hard eggs, and ate them as well as we could in the
midst of a rabble of people who had not seen an English
man since the Duke of Wellington was here, about 1810.
And as to the filthiness of the whole place, you can hardly
imagine it. Just as we were going to bed — or rather, to
lie down — there was a shouting under the window, and
our Paradella friend came back with the poncho. Riding
all day is an excellent soporific, or how we should have
got through the night I can't think.

To B. W. S. Alban (June I7th), 1853.

I did not tell you of my discovery at Lisbon. You ASequence
know that Thomas of Celano wrote two other Sequences discovered.
besides the Dies Irae, which were supposed to be lost.
One of them, Fregit victor virtualis, I found in a MS.
Hours of some Franciscan convent. I have just sent it up
for the " Sequentiae Ineditae." 2

To Mrs. NEALE.

SS. Philip and James (May 1st), 1854. Tuy, Gallicia.

... I never, in all my travels, got into any difficulty
like that we are now in. You shall hear. We had a
favourable voyage enough. On Sunday we sighted Spain,
had prayers, Oldknow reading and I preaching, and about
five we went into Vigo. Now no one seemed to know
about quarantine. We found at Vigo that, that place
1 A public-house at East Grinstead. 2 Ecclesiologist, xv. 163.

214 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Cholera being itself suspected of cholera, there was no quarantine
e< for us there ; and that, though it was contrary to the
regulations, we might slip into Portugal without much
trouble. (At Lisbon we should have a three days' quaran
tine.) Two English merchants, returning to Porto, deter
mined to land, and so did we, too. We then resolved to
go out of our way to see Compostella ; but this morning
we found that the cholera was so dreadfully bad at Ponte-
vedra, on the way to Compostella, that we did not choose
to run that risk. The morning we spent in going about
Vigo, which is beautifully situated, but not interesting ;
and after dinner, with our two friends, we came on four
leagues, on horseback, through a lovely country, here.
When we arrived — but you must get the map, or you will
not understand — we found matters looking very serious.
In consequence of a few deaths here, the quarantine lines
have been strengthened all along the river. All communi
cation from here to Valenga is strictly forbidden, and so
along the whole extent of the frontier. This being the
case, we called a council of war. There were only three
plans for us. One, to force the quarantine lines ; another,
to go back to Vigo, and so to England (for the English
boats will not take passengers for Lisbon thence, because
it would give them eight days' quarantine at Lisbon), and
this, besides its absurdity, would give us eight days in
Vigo, itself somewhat infected ; or to go to Vigo and take
the diligence to Madrid (a six days' journey through the
heart of the cholera district), and so try to get into Portugal
on that side. Our friends offered to take us with them if
"Forcing we liked to risk the attempt of forcing the lines. This
thequaran- requires very great caution, for the last man who did so
tme lines." wag shot at faree times, though not touched. As there
must be some risk whatever we do, and this seems least,
we are to try it. And this is how.

At seven to-morrow morning the principal smuggler on
the Minho — a very clever fellow — is to be ready for us
with his boat. We are, all well, to embark, and to drop
down the river as if we were going to Guard ia, on the
Spanish side of the mouth. When we have passed Caminha

ADVENTURE IN PORTUGAL 21$

(see the map) we lie to. A boat has been engaged to
come out from Caminha with two men, and also drop
down the river as if it were going out to sea. This boat
will join us : we take one of the men on board, and our
smuggler takes his place, and goes on shore without ex
citing attention. There he is to bribe the one or two Assisted by
guards we shall have to pass, so as to let us go by safely ; smugglers.
and we are then to be landed in a lonely part of the sand.
Here we must leave our baggage in some cottage, and walk
on till we meet with mules, which can fetch it to us at
Vianna, where we hope to sleep. This plan was arranged
by the superintendent of the smugglers, who is a woman,
and very famous here. I think it is very feasible, though
of course the guards may refuse to be bribed — in which
case I don't know what will be the next plan. We have
just been getting our passports vise here for Portugal : the
authorities here, of course, are not caring a straw about the
Portuguese laws. Our difficulties, however, will not be
over when we get to Vianna. Our friends, being residents,
have no passports, and need none (their names, by-the-
bye, are Noble and Thompson) ; and how we shall conceal

the way we have got in . Our only course must be to

go to the English consul, tell him the truth, and act on
his advice. But I never got into such a net of difficulties
before. It is now past eleven. Good-night, all my pets.

May 3rd. Barcellos.

Now I go on. Yesterday morning we started about
seven, without any difficulty. The boat was in waiting,
and we went down the river with two men. But it was
curious to see the guards, thick, on the Portuguese side ;
and once, when we went down to the shore to deliver
a message, they came down with their guns, ready to fire.
In about two hours it came on to blow fiercely, the river
swelled like the sea, and it seemed very doubtful whether
we could get down at all. Noble, our friend, is the most
energetic man I ever saw — sometimes encouraging the
boatmen, and once jumping out and towing himself. The
storm became tremendous, and at last it became clear that

216 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

we could not pass Caminha. We put in to get fresh

hands, but the guards were there with their guns, and we

dared not go in. At last the smuggler who had arranged

the affair, guessing how it would be, came up the river

with his boat, and told us that, if we ran ashore at a little

village called Peixas, he had arranjado the guards. We

did, and not a soul was to be seen. We landed, sent for

" A dismal horses, and in a dismal storm set off for Vianna. Noble

storm." and his frjend went firstj Qldknow and I after. The way

is along the coast. I never saw such an awful storm : and
Noble, who has lived all his life in Portugal, never did.
We were in it from six till twelve ; the horses every now
and then staggering under it. When it grew dark, I got
a deaf man as guide. When we reached Vianna we could
get no one to guide us to Noble's house ; and for half
an hour I thought we must have walked all night in the
street. The rain pouring from the eaves made it almost
impossible to hear a word said. At last we went to the
barracks, called up the soldier on guard, and he took us.
It was 12.15. Noble was gone to bed, but his servant was
up. Of course we were wet through. Our baggage could
not get through the storm, so we undressed and sat in
blankets. The servant lent me a shirt, and so we sat
down to supper, in shirts and blankets — and a very good
supper it was. I slept like a top, and this morning we all
met at breakfast. Noble got the consul to viser our pass
ports, and thus to spare us all trouble at Porto. Then he
shewed me his stores — he is the bacalhao merchant of the
north of Portugal ; and then we went and took the churches
in the town, and saw the tomb of the great and good Arch
bishop of Braga, Bartholomeo dos Martyres, of whom you
have often heard me speak. We had luncheon at Noble's,
and then started for this place. Over lovely mountains —
with two pelting showers of rain. . . . When we came in, two
choirs in the great square were singing a hymn to Nuestra
Senhora, on opposite sides, and it had a very sweet effect. . . .

On the outside page had been written : " ^F* N.B.
May 3rd, Barcellos. — Quite safe, thank GOD, and well ; so
you may read the inside without being nervous."

TOUR IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 217

To His WIFE. May 5th, 1854. Porto.

... I shall have a paper, all well, for National Mis
cellany : " How I broke my first quarantine."

As I suppose Agnes will not be at home, I will write
a note to Corny (aged 8).

MY DEAR LITTLE CORNY BOY— OR, RATHER, VINCENT
BOY,

Some day, I hope, you and I shall sit down when A letter to
we are out on our travels, and write home, as I am doing hls '
to you now. I hope you and May will be nice companions
for each other this next week, if Agnes and Ermy go to
Brighton. We go about with two horses and one mule ; one
horse for the luggage, and one for me, and the mule for
Mr. Oldknow. To-day we had strawberries and green peas
for dinner — that would have pleased Miss Baker ; and the
oranges are looking very beautiful indeed ; and so are the
shaddocks, which are a kind of large pale orange. As we
rode through the lanes, we heard nightingales all day long,
and cuckoos ; but the cuckoo here says cuck-yu, or some
thing like that. You can find Porto, where I am writing
now, on the map. It is a great city, all built up and down
hill, and such steep hills, to be sure ; steeper than Luxford's
Lane. Kiss May from me ; I must write to her, all well,
next ; and kiss the baby.

YOUR DEAR PAPA.

Have you been fighting with the dogs, and have you
put them to flight ?

To B. W. May 3 ist, 1854. Steamship Madrid, Bay of Biscay.

I did not hear from you at Thomar, much to my
disappointment, though I had other English letters there.
I don't know whether my wife told you anything about us,
when she gave you my message : at all events you shall
have a brief account of our travels. On Sunday evening
we landed at Vigo, next day we got on to Tuy, being pre
vented from going to Compostella by the cholera. On

2i8 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Tour in entering Portugal we ought to have had eight days' quaran-
Portugai. tjne . kut kv tke j^p Of j-hg chief smuggler of those parts,

with a good deal of difficulty, and some little risk of being
shot, we went down the Minho in a boat and landed at
the N.W. angle of Portugal. The night we landed, we had
to ride twenty-five miles along the wildest coast imaginable,
with the most awful storm I ever saw. At Vianna we got
taken in to an English house, and soon forgot our miseries.
Then we worked up to Porto, seeing several good churches,
of which in the Ecclesiologist^ all well. On the following
Monday we started from Porto, making a circuit to the
N.E. and coming down on Lamego. Here the Bishop
was exceedingly civil to us. From Lamego to Viseu,
where is one of the best Portuguese Cathedrals, a fifteen
hours' ride. Thence we went up into the Estrella moun
tains, and took up our quarters in a little pilgrimage house,
Nuestra Senhora de Desterro, in the wildest and most
pastoral scenery you can imagine — just like Theocritus,
goatherds piping to their goats on the brows of rocks, etc.
We crossed the mountains and spent the next three days
in the roughest country I ever saw, even in Portugal.
No one goes that way : I piloted our course about seventy
miles by the map, taking guides from village to village,
and sleeping in cottages at night. We were most thankful
when, on the afternoon of the fourth day, we came down,
Thomar. half starved, and eaten up with vermin, to Thomar. Here
we rested a whole day. The Conventual Church of the
Military Order of Christ (now desecrated but quite per
fect) is one of the most curious I ever saw. A sixteen-
sided choir : in its centre an octagonal canopy for the
altar, which runs up into, and is, as it were, the central
pier for, the dome of the choir. Hence we went again
(by a new way) to Batalha, where we spent the Sunday,
and where I took abundance of notes ; I will read a paper,
all well (as I sent you word), on that Church at the
Anniversary Meeting.1 Hence to Santarem and down the
English river to Lisbon. On Sunday I was at the English College
College at most of the day, and found them very well up in English

1 See Ecclesiologist, xv. 223-236.

TABLE-TURNING 219

matters. They were more than civil ; and we had a most
pleasant dinner. The contrast of their High Mass and
the slovenly Portuguese Services was very striking. We
sailed at eight on Monday morning : and for a wonder, I
escaped sea-sickness, though till to-day my head has been
too giddy to let me write. We were in Vigo harbour
yesterday evening and ran down a fishing-boat coming
out, but saved the men. Till this morning we have had
a head wind : now it is favourable, and if it holds, v/e
shall, all well, get into Southampton some time on Friday
night. Oldknow is a very tolerable companion, though he
minds roughing it a great deal more than a traveller in
Portugal ought. As he is ill almost all the time at sea, I
am pretty lonely.

To B. W. June iQth, 1853. S. C.

Last night, for the first time, I saw Table-turning. Table_
This strikes me as a second great step to the development turning.
of Antichrist ; Mesmerism, as hitherto practised, being the
first. I should like to see any definition of a miracle which
would exclude it. If one says that it is necessary to touch
the object, so it seems to have been in most even of the
Scriptural miracles. But, if so, then all the ground on
which we have been basing Revelation, as regards miracles,
is absolutely cut away from us. Nor do I see that we gain
much if we suppose this to be a new power bestowed on
man. One thing strikes me as remarkable : that our Lord "
should mention the moving of mountains as the lowest moun-
kind of faith, — not necessarily (it would seem) justifying tains,"
faith. And this new thing is of the same nature as that. ^att' xvn'
In short, all this matter deserves to be most seriously
thought about : for that " sleepless beast," as S. Cyril says,
won't leave it alone, whether we do or not. I think it shews
remarkably good sense in the Pope to have had it done
before him. If you happen not to have seen or tried it,
do ; and do think over the matter. Last night we were a
party of five, and it only took ten minutes.

His book, " The Unseen World," was published previous
to this — in 1847. It is m the form of a conversation

220 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

carried on for nine nights between friends who meet for
the purpose of discussing the question of communications,
real or imaginary, with the other world ; but it does not
include spirit-rapping or table-turning.

To B. W. Oct. 1 6th, 1853. S. C.

Occasional Brechinensis has got a Committee from the Episcopal
ces- Synod to draw up these Offices :

Dedication of a Church ;

Blessing of a temporary Church ;

Dedication of an Altar ;

Reconciliation of converts from heresy ; and one or two
others.

He asked if I would help him. I said that, if he
would promise to take them as a ground-work (of course,
liable to the necessary or unnecessary corrections of
Committee), I would draw them up and submit them to
the Ecclesiological Committee (the thing, of course, being
kept private). He willingly consents. We ought not to
let so favourable an opportunity slip ; and should have
a Committee on purpose when they are ready. I think
the Reconciliation of converts and Dedication of an Altar
very important ; in that of a Church we are unfortunately
bound to depart as little as may be from the established
form ; but we might introduce a Proper Preface, I should
think. Let me hear your ideas on the matter.

To B. W. Oct. 22nd, 1853. S. C.

I don't remember ever doing anything so troublesome
as I find the Scotch Offices. Of course, if we had only to
translate, or even moderately adapt, I or anyone could get
on famously ; but cramped as we are, it is terrible work,
and I am quite out of heart about it. I send you two,
which I wish you would read over. In that for blessing
a temporary Church, I know that the simple benediction
ought to be all. But, as they will have an Office of some
kind, it is surely better to give them one that shall be as
little liable to objection as possible. You will see that I
have carefully kept from anything like dedication of the
Church, except perhaps in the Hymn. There is in the

BISHOP GO BAT PROTEST 221

Mozarabic 1 a hymn O beata Hierusalem praedicanda civitas,
which might do better. In the other Office, I thought it was
better to try to keep to the spirit rather than the words
of the Roman, and to take the words as far as possible
from our own Prayer-book. Really it is surprising what a
direct confession of Faith you may make out of it. You
will remember that this does not go straight to Committee
but to Brechin, who, of course, will write it out again, and
omit anything that might give offence.

If you want to see what a victory we gained at S.P.C.K.
read the last Record. Somebody ought to be at the next
meeting of S.P.C.K. ; I should not wonder if something
were attempted. Names come in much faster.

I have written to Exeter to ask if he would mind writing
a letter to Mill, or any other member of the Committee,
expressing sympathy with the movement, and explaining
why he could not sign (the Gobat Protest).

At this time High Churchmen were greatly stirred2 by Bishop
learning that Bishop Gobat, of Jerusalem, and his clergy were Gobat.
endeavouring to make proselytes from the Eastern Church,
contrary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's original declara
tion that no such thing was to be done. J. M. Neale took
the lead in a Protest to the Eastern patriarchs signed by
English clergy. His letters shew how he spared neither
time nor pains in attending meetings and collecting signa
tures. The number of signatures exceeded one thousand.

To B. W. Undated, 1853.

All right. We very nearly had the whole swamped.
Keble dead against it, and Pearson. Pusey came out well.
The possibility of withdrawing the Memorial left to a
future Committee — that is, thrown over.

Martinmas Day (Nov. nth), 1853. S. C.
... I reached London at 10.30 that night. At Com
mittee next day were those whose names I have italicized
in the list. I never before had anything that seemed to me
so important as this. It began by Keble saying that in

1 Christian Remembrancer ', xxvi. 461-500.

2 See Christian Remembrancer, xxvi. 515-518.

222 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Committee consequence of there being so few Bishops, and of the
about^ declaration of the Metropolitan, he should propose that
Protest to the Protest be not sent to the Eastern Church. Pearson
Eastern anci Fortescue spoke on the same side. When Pusey and
against Marriott came in, I thought all was up; but Marriott
Bishop did nothing, and Pusey was on the right side. Scott
Gobat. saj^ that it might be better first to read a statement
which Mill had prepared, and which, if adopted, would not
hinder Keble's resolution. Accordingly it was read, about
two-thirds being Scott's, and one-third Mill's. Everyone
liked it ; and we went through it sentence by sentence,
improving it a good deal, and making it what you see it.
This took a very long time ; and Keble, who wanted to
get away, said that he should be satisfied if the final trans
mission of the Protest to the Patriarchs were left an open
question. The Oxford men then went ; we made a few
more alterations ; and at last Pearson says very innocently,
"Do you know, it seems to me, that if we publish this,
we pledge ourselves to go on." However, he seemed con
tent. We did not get out till five. I was glad that Scott
and Denison were such good friends. They went away
together to dinner. I should still have preferred the
Address we drew up ; but we have not done badly. . . .
Moray and Ross withdraws from our Protest, to take
separate action. I shall try and keep him up to the latter
part of his intention. S. Andrews and Brechin remain.

Nov. iQth, 1853. S. C.

The names come in slowly — at present 879 — but they
keep on. Several have signed because of the Archbishop's
Declaration ; and no one has taken off beyond those whom
you knew of.

Every day I expect news of what they are doing in
America.

To B. W. S. Cecilia (Nov. 22nd), 1853. S. C.

I can hardly hope that I have made no mistake in
Liverpool ; and if I have, the enraged hive will point it
out. But I have written to Cecil Wray wherever I felt

BISHOP GOBAT PROTEST 223

any doubt. . . . Now, don't alter Socinian to Unitarian in
this paper ; and let me have a slap at Hook in Leeds.

You have seen the articles about me in the Record. It Gobat
is courtesy and politeness to the Irish papers.

I have classed our names according to Counties in
order to see where we fail, and work them up. The best

are —

Yorkshire \

Somerset J
Wiltshire 46
Sussex

Devon *

Oxon. 37

Essex 35

Beds., Hunts., Rutland, o. Cheshire, Cumberland, West
moreland, only i.

To B. W. March 4th, 1854. S. C.

The publication of the list has brought in an accession
of names, as I expected, and involved me in an ocean of
correspondence.1 I have not got on as I wish with the
Hymns, partly from " Protest," partly because of Easter
Carols, and of a paper I shall have in next Christian
Remembrancer on " Mediaeval Sermons."

This matter of Denison's is very threatening. I wish
some 40 or 50 men, such as would be listened to, would G- A- Deni'

. A , . . . son and

agree when the case comes into the Arches, to issue a Court of
paper to this effect: (i) That the thing was most ill- Arches. ,
advised on George Anthony Denison's part ; (2) That
nevertheless, the Court of Arches is in such a state that
no one ought to care one straw what its decision is, — and
that whatever it may be, it can neither affect the Church
of England for good or for bad. The case will certainly
come on, as I hear ; and we know how it must end.
Now I think it would be much better to make such a
declaration beforehand than after. If something be not
done, and the case goes against us, I greatly tremble for
R. Wilberforce.

1 Christian Remembrancer ', xxviii. 1-44.

224 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. Maundy Thursday, 1854. S. C.

"Hymnal * w'ls^ exceedingly to have the Adeste, Stabat Mater,
Noted." and O filii. They would all come in the second sheet.
But I incline to think that they had better stand over for
this reason : that they will be a kind of capital to begin
upon with our next publication of the same sort. We are
bound to go on, when this is out of hand, and we shall
want something confessedly popular to make a prestige
in favour of the book. You will find a needful Hymn
from the Mozarabic Breviary for the Restoration of a
Church.

Easter We have been trying the Carols every day this week

Carols. with a choir of eighteen or nineteen. They are to go out
on Saturday night. These are as well liked here as the
Christmas ones. The most popular I find to be 13, 23,
and "Give ear, Give ear," etc. You have no idea how
very grand is the ending of the Sequence, " The Foe
Behind." * This and two sermons a day and our services
have kept me pretty close.

I have written a pretty long answer to the Rambler
and sent it to Masters.

To B. W. June 7th, 1854. S. C.

. . . Will it not be proper, in the forthcoming Ecclesio-
logist* to give a catalogue raisonne"e of all the Hymns,
where they are printed, and the dates, so far as known ?
It need not take more than four pages, and might also
be sold separately. Plain-song seems now fairly afloat. I
"Hymnal am more and more struck by the Scripturalness of these
Scriptural ^ymns. In doing the references in Pange lingua the
other day, I at first left that part —

u Ipse lignum tune notavit
Damna ligni ut solveret,"

as a mere poetical conceit, not to be looked for in the

1 The editors of " Hymns Ancient and Modern " also seem to
" have no idea," for they omit the last five verses, including the grand
" Once despised and once rejected," and substitute a modern tune for
the original melody.

a See Ecclesiologist, xv. 291-307.

LITERARY WORK 225

Bible. S. Anthony, however, helped me to Ezek. xvii. 24—
just look at it : the exact thing :—

" et sclent omnia ligna regionis quia ego Dominus humiliavi lignum
sublime, et exaltavi lignum humile : et siccavi lignum viride, et
frondere feci lignum aridum. Ego Dominus locutus sum, et feci."

My paper on Batalha will be somewhat of the longest—
though I hope not dull — therefore don't put it last.

June I2th, 1854. S. C.

As you know, I disagree with you toto caelo about the Crimean
war, thinking it the most wicked and unjust that has of War-
late years been, except Napoleon's Campaigns. Never
theless, I hope for good too, if there could but be a free
Church of Constantinople.

To B. W. June 25th, 1854, S. C.

I have desired Novello to send you a revise of the first
sheet of the Scriptural Edition, which you ought to have
about Wednesday. But don't keep it : for the second sheet
cannot be set up till that is worked off, from a want of p's
and x's in that type. . . .

George Forbes — who is one of the best liturgical Gaiiican
scholars I know — and I are going to publish, at his press, Liturgies,
a complete edition of the Gaiiican Liturgies, containing
all of Thomasius, Mabillon, and Mone, with a corrected 1855.
text. It is rather a respectable thing, I think, to do ; and
of course no English bookseller would run the risk ; but he
must print something.

To B. W. July soth, 1854. S. C.

You will have thought that I was never going to write
again. But last week— or rather I should say the week
before last — I had to work like a lion at " Portugal," which
Murray wanted finished, and which I sent him on Monday :
and that threw me behind with everything else.

226 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Changes in What a wonderful stride is that of Convocation ! Now
comes just the very turning-point. I think, on the whole,
the recommendations quite as good as you could expect
with all their follies. Nevertheless, mind you, it is much
better to get changes, even though the addition be absurd,
than to have none. We shall get rid of the cast-iron
anyhow.

To B. W. Sexagesima Sunday, 1854.

Do you remember our losing all our plate when we
first came here ? * It has turned up again, found at Horley,
and that — of all conceivable things — by the agency of a
Sister of Mercy, of whom I had never heard before. If I
had time to tell you the story it would read quite like a
romance. Among other things recovered is the Chalice
that went with you over Europe — if you like to change
that you had instead for it, you shall have it at once.

[The man, I think a labourer, who had stolen the box
from the waggon eight years before had been afraid to get
rid of its contents, and had buried it under the floor of the
barn where he worked. The theft weighed on his mind,
and during his last illness his daughter, who happened to
be a servant at Sackville College, was sent for to see her
father. I suppose the Sister of Mercy had heard from him
of his trouble and persuaded him to confess his crime
before he died. The box was found in the place he
described, and only one item was missing.]

To B. W. Aug. nth, 1854. S. C.

I am busy now on a paper for the Christian Remem
brancer •, on Callixtus2 and the peace-making attempt
between Rome and Lutheranism in the i/th century ;
rather an interesting subject.

Sept. 6th, 1854. S. C.

There ought to be articles in the Ecclesiologist on the
Prayer-book of 1689, and the Report to Convocation. If
no one else is going to do the former, I will.3 I wish you
would let me hear about Thomar ; for I want to be writing

1 Page 96. 2 Christian Remembrancer, xxix. 1-49.

3 See Ecclesiologist, xii. 167.

TOUR IN HOLLAND 227

to Lisbon. I can't see what the objection can be ; and it
could be managed without any trouble.

Sept. isth, 1854. S. C.

I am glad about Thomar, and will write. I was at
Clewer on Thursday, and was very much pleased with what
I saw, Woodyer's new building included. Also Ferrey's
Church at Eton is the best thing I ever saw of his.

I told you some time ago that the Archbishop of visit to
Utrecht wanted me to go and see him, that I might look JJ
through their later documents, from where the printed
histories end, and make something of them. Now I shall
be able to go, for J. H. Parker has offered me £2$ to do
it. I think to start at the end of the month ; I suppose
that I shall be gone for ten days. If Helmore starts at
the same time, we may as well go to Antwerp together.
I think we ought to give him £10 for that expedition, on
condition of his writing a paper for the Ecclesiologist.

The following letter was written during his Church tour
in Holland, where he went to collect information for his
" History of the Jansenist Church." He had previously
visited Utrecht in 185 1, when he became acquainted with the
Archbishop, who on this second visit placed the Archives
at his disposal, and shewed him every possible kindness.
In the annals of the Church of Utrecht he found a more
than ordinary historical interest for English Churchmen.
He writes, " A taunt and a bye-word to the rampant Ultra-
montanism of modern Europe, she has calmly and trust
fully held her own, proclaimed her unshaken attachment
to Catholic union and the Catholic faith . . . and awaits
in patience and hope those brighter days when her isola
tion shall be removed." In the history, therefore, of this
separated national communion he hopes "not only to
interest but also to console those members of our Church
who lament our isolation from the rest of Christendom." 1

It may be remembered that Holland was the scene of
many of his tales for children ; for example, " The Honds-
bossche " and the " Relief of Antwerp " in " Evenings at

1 " History of the so-called Jansenist Church of Holland," Parker,
1858, p. 6.

228 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Sackville College," and " Gerard van Kampen " in " Tales
of the Apostles' Creed."

To B. W. Oct. Qth, 1854. Utrecht.

Visit to I have been wanting to write to you every day, but this,

oiiand. yOU knoW) js no{. like an ordinary tour, where one's evenings
are free, but I have ;been at work, extracting and abstract
ing, till late at night. I came via Calais and Antwerp,
straight, except that I stopped a whole day at Ghent,
which I had never seen but from the railway. Did you
see the ruins of S. Bavon's Monastery ? I do not remember
them in your book ; and they have only been discovered,
or rather uncovered, these few years. I was particularly
edified by the Beguinage and the Vespers. You know
I don't generally much take to pictures, but I could sit
Van Eyck's for ever and look at the Adoration of the Lamb. I never
Adoration saw anything which — to my mind — came near it. I got
Lamb. nere fr°m Antwerp on Thursday evening, and have received
every kindness from the Archbishop, who is very well, from
Mulder the Archivist, and Loosje. Friday and Saturday
the pen was scarcely out of my hand — except that I strolled
out to Zuilewon Saturday afternoon. Sunday I went to
Mass at S. Gertrude's. It is a very curious Office. One
forgets that 150 years of separation must give a different
air and manner to the same ritual — especially as I doubt
whether any of the set have ever been into a Roman
Catholic Church (for they scarcely go out of Holland). I
cannot give you a better idea of it than by saying that it
struck me as the same thing that it would be if a set of
Puseyites went through Mass — a great deal of stiffness or
awkwardness, and slowness. It is, as you know, a modern
Church, gilt and white — that sort of thing — narrow, high
galleries ; centre, chairs for women ; side, benches for men ;
almost everyone had books, and the children fidgetted with
them just as they do in England. According to a Canon of
their Council of 1763, there was no music during Consecra
tion. The Archbishop celebrated — it was a Mass that I
could neither call High nor Low ; he had no deacon nor
sub-deacon, but there was music, etc., and everything else as

TOUR IN HOLLAND 229

in High Mass. There was only a Crucifix and pix, besides
candles on the Altar ; very few images anywhere — and
those of plaster. The Archbishop's submissa voce was so
loud that I could hear every word of the Consecration.
On the whole, I was not pleased with that Office. When
it was over, Mulder came in, and, after reading the Epistle
and Gospel in Dutch from the pulpit, preached. I then
had a talk with the Archbishop, and then with Mulder.
They have quite loaded me with books. In the afternoon I
walked over to Ysselstein, seven miles, where there is a fine
Church. To-day I went by diligence, two hours, to Amers-
foort, where is their College. The Archbishop must have
written well of me, for they received me most flatteringly.
The President, Karsten, I like the best of them ; and had
more books given me. Karsten, when he walked out with
me, looked every inch a bishop : a tall, fine man, with
cocked hat, square-cut coat, knee breeches, and buckles. I
should think he would probably be Archbishop, when Van
Santen dies. They do not, of course, proselytize from the
" other Catholics " ; but the odd thing is, that some come
over to them : so that by conversions from Protestantism,
and births, they are on the increase. The Cathedral strikes
me more and more ; the nave, you know, is destroyed ; a
magnificent Apsidal Chancel (date 1251-1267). There is
a fine tower at Amersfoort, of which the church was blown
up ; and a grand church with a superb stone roodloft.
Karsten came halfway back with me in the diligence. To
morrow, all well, I start again, having got a wonderful deal
by coming, and knowing exactly how to get more. Dom
Petra, when here, played the thief, I understand ; so they
may well be disgusted with him. It is a wearisome journey
from here to Antwerp — thirteen hours. I hope to get
home on Wednesday night late.

Oct. isth, 1854. S. C.

... I hope you have had my letter from Utrecht
before now. On Monday night I sat a long time with
Mulder, of S. Gertrude's, and then with the Archbishop ;

230

LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Parts when I left the latter, he said, " Monsieur, nous ne nous

Archbisho reverrons P^us ^ans ce monde : priez pour nous que cela

of Utrecht, serait dans 1'autre." I quite felt parting from the old man.

... I told you, I think, of my visit to Ysselstein ; there

is a splendid Church there also. That was this day week ;

and from wearing a white tie, I was bowed to all the way

by the honest country folks, as a Protestant Minister, to

my great disgust.

To B. W. Oct. 23rd, 1854. S. C.

Modem Wilberforce's book is nothing but a resume of stale old

Romanism, arguments about the Supremacy of Rome. There is abso
lutely naught in it which is new ; unless it be an attempt
to shew that the Primacy involves the Supremacy. If the
investigation which is given in this book takes him over,
he must have been pretty ignorant to begin with. What
a shocking thing will this Decree Urbi et Orbi be, when it
really comes out ! I have no particular feeling against the
dogma myself ; but for the Pope to make it thus necessary to
salvation is really too bad. I think that every step modern
Rome takes is more and more against her. In fact, if we
are to be finally lost for not going with her, it is a very
hard case indeed. I was so pleased with S. Anthony's
" Moral Concordances " when I was doing the references to
the Hymnal, that I have been translating them at odd
times ever since. I never learnt so much of the Bible in
the same time before, or was more edified. You might see
them advertised in the last Guardian. I will send you a
copy.

To B. W. Nov. 7th, 1854. S. C.

Denison tells me that his business cannot come on till
the I /th at the earliest I confess that it does not much
disquiet me. But I should like to have some plan ready,
by which we may at once neutralize the effect of the Arch
bishop's decision : either an appeal to Convocation, or to
a free Synod of the Bishops of our Communion, wherever
it can be held. Either of these makes our position tenable,
while 'tis pending ; and many would surely sign.

"Moral
Concor
dances "
ofS.
Anthony.

LECTURES 231

Nov. 1 8th, 1854. S. C.
... I should very well like to give the Lectures. Various
Where ? At S. Albans ? My vocation just now seems
to be to lecture ; for I have to give one on Hymnology on
Nov. 28th, and one at our Institute here on Dec. /th. . . .
What an odd ending about the La Sallette miracle ! Really,
such things ought to make our friends at Rome pause a
little ; for what attestations and vouchers had not that
miracle !

Nov. 23rd, 1854. S. C.

... It would be stupid to lecture on the old story of First
and Middle Pointed, etc. I should like to-day to give them
something better worth having, e.g. The Parts of a Church,
as illustrated by the different national Ecclesiologies of
the West and East, etc. Howj many lectures do they
want ?

Dec. 4th, 1854. S. C.

. . . Agnes (aged 10) brought me a long set of verses
this morning she had written on Sebastopol. The last
couplet, speaking of the Emperor, was —

" And when he next does slay the Turks
May I be there to see his works ! "

To B. W. Dec. 9th, 1854. S. C.

About the Russian War I feel so strongly that I had Crimean
rather not write. I am glad, at all events, to see that the ^
Morning Chronicle to-day has the honesty at last to
confess that we are fighting to ensure the perpetual slavery
of the Turkish Christians. This simplifies matters. How
you can be led away by this popular1 howl is most
astonishing to me.

1 In his immediate circle he seems to have been always on the
unpopular side in politics. See his " In Memoriam " (Abraham
Lincoln), April I4th, 1865, in " Sequences and Hymns." Hayes. 1866.

232 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

However, this time two years, all well, I shall be in the
majority.

The " Battle of the Alma," a poem published in his last
collection of verse,1 of which he wrote the preface only a
few days before his death, shews how he abominated the
Crimean War, and the alliance of the Cross with the
Crescent ; and in the preface to " Theodora Phranza,"
perhaps the most spirited of all his tales (published 1857),
he mentions the prophecy that the Ottoman possession of
Constantinople should not extend beyond four hundred
years, and hopes that " the sands of the Turkish domina
tion are now very fast running out."

1 "Sequences and Hymns," etc. 1866.

CHAPTER XV

1854-55

BEGINNING OF SISTERHOOD — CONFESSION

Home celestial ! Home supernal !
Founded on the Rock eternal !
Home, no change nor loss that fearest,
From afar my soul thou cheerest.
Thee it seeketh, thee requireth,
Thee affecteth, thee desireth.

IN 1854 the foundation of S. Margaret's Sisterhood marked
a new departure in his strenuous life. The following letter
gives a detailed account of the various steps taken in the
formation of it.1 It will be noted that he had previously
written many letters asking advice of his most trusted
friends.

To B. W. Feb. ist, 1855. S. C.

You know that, five or six years ago, it was a favourite
speculation of mine, how it would be possible ever to get
at the scattered collections of houses in our great Sussex
parishes, so as positively to evangelize them as you might
do a heathen country, for they are heathen to all intents
and purposes. Some three or four years ago Fowler had First steps
an idea that by nurses, trained both physically and re-
ligiously, something might be done ; he laid the subject
before the Rural Deanery, everyone was pleased with it,
but nothing was effected. The idea remained in my mind,

1 This letter was published in the appendix to the second revise
of the " Memoir " by Mrs. Charles Towle.

234 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

and I worked it out by degrees, licking my cub into shape.
After this I saw the incalculable good that was done at
Horley by the daughter of a master-brick maker, who had
been partially trained at Oxford (and who was afterwards
most energetic in the Cholera Hospital there). I was
brought a good deal into contact with her, and all this
kept up the matter. After that, but long before the
Nightingale affair, I happened to know three persons —
two ladies, one not — who were anxious, and to whom the
way was open, to join a Sisterhood ; but which ? Then I
saw the nucleus of what I wanted to do, if I could get
co-operation. I first wrote to, or saw, the most prononces
of our friends, Fowler, Maberly, Wheeler, Weguelin,
Carnegie, Hunt, Gream, Antrobus, Joyce, of Dorking,
Harrison, of Reigate, etc. ; and they all were enthusiastic
in favour of trying what we could do. Then (you know
my abhorrence of the pseudo-asceticism at S. Saviour's,
Osnaburgh Street, and Devonport) I went to Clewer twice,
and learnt all that I could there, and had a long corre
spondence with the Superior, who is one of the most
sensible women I ever saw. Before I could do more, it
was necessary for me to have a Superior for my future
Sisterhood. Her I found in Miss Gream, the very exact
person of all others that I could have chosen, just about the
right age — forty-five ; used all her life to parish work ; used
to nursing, and most anxious to be employed in some
such way. With the help of some of our friends I drew
up some rules, based on those of Clewer, so far as the
great difference of the design would permit. The scheme
Nursing then resolved itself into this : to have a central house —
at present somewhere — hereafter, when we get a new
Bishop, connected (if it can be so) with this Chapel, in
which we may have a community of trained Sisters, ready
to be sent out at the Superior's discretion gratuitotisly to any
Parish Priest within a circuit of (say) twenty-five miles, that
may need their services in nursing any of his people ; he
to be responsible, so far as may be, for their management,
safety, etc., while they are in his parish. In that circle from
here we have about twenty villages and five towns, where

BEGINNING OF SISTERHOOD 235

they would be thankfully received at once. Now my little
cub was beginning to take good proportions ; the next
thing was to feed him. Just then came the Scutari business.
On this I took courage, and wrote to everyone in our part
of the Diocese that had a chance of being in favour of the
plan — high and dry, moderate, hardworking men, etc. Then
I first learnt how completely I had hit the right nail on
the head. I had not a single demurrer to the scheme,
though in some cases my selection might almost have pro
voked it. Then I began to beg ; and certainly I succeeded
there quite beyond my hopes. The next thing was to find
a firstrate, and yet morally respectable, Hospital, where
the Sisters might be trained ; for it was impossible to

expose some of them to the contamination of 's or

's, where they might have been received. First I Training-.

tried the Sussex County Hospital, but, after some negotia
tions, that failed. At Westminster I succeeded. The House
Committee at once passed a resolution granting those whom
we may send admittance ; and the Senior Physician and
Chaplain (Hill) both evinced the greatest interest. While
I was meditating on the question of lodgings, comes a
spontaneous offer from Shephard, Master of the S. John's
House, to take them in there. I went over the Hospital —
was introduced to the officials — and was perfectly satisfied
with what I saw. I did the same with S. John's House (the
fact of their having been there will tell in our favour with
moderate men). By this time I had a pretty certain pros
pect of seven or eight ; but I wanted more. I wrote to Mrs.
Sidney Herbert, asking if there were any list of applicants
for the East, — and if so, whether she would give me the
names of some who would be likely to do for me. I saw her,
and she gave me a first list, promising another when I had
exhausted that. (Which is an episode : I never saw any
woman in my life who so took my fancy.) Out of that
list, I think I shall get two ; and I think I may get more.
The week after next, all well, we send the first to West
minster to be trained, and shall then hope to keep on with
them. When there will be enough, or what will constitute
enough, to make them into a Community I cannot yet say.

236 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

All my copies of the rules are out, but as soon as I can
get one I will send it you. You know they are only as
yet proposed, so any suggestion will be most acceptable.
Now we are taking another step. I have printed a little
statement of our scheme, simply speaking of nurses,
"whether ladies or others," and dropping all name of a
Sisterhood. This is to be sent to the 210 parishes which
lie in our district, not in my name, but in that of old
Gream, who entered heartily in the plan. What the result
of that will be remains to be seen. I have given you very
little idea of the eagerness of co-operation I have met
with ; it is the greatest hit I have seen since the first start
of the C.C.S. But you have little idea of the constant
hard work and driving it takes ; it requires one's shoulder
to be always at the wheel — however, it goes. It is odd
that in one of your letters to me you should have said
that now was the time for the formation of Sisterhoods
and other works of that sort. I should have told you long
ago, but if you knew how I shrink from writing a long
letter you would not wonder at my silence — especially
considering the heap of long letters in this business that
I had to write.

Such was the beginning of a Sisterhood which has now
spread into all quarters of the world, having houses in
America, Asia, and Africa, which has three Daughter or
Affiliated Houses, thirty Missions or smaller houses, and
which, besides its original work of providing nurses for
the sick poor in their own homes, has schools, orphanages,
convalescent homes, and many parochial works. More
than three hundred Sisters are either living now or are
commemorated daily, with their Founder, as having passed
out of sight into " the great Cloister's stillness and
seclusion."

To Rev. J. HASKOLL. March i3th, 1855.

The Sisterhood gets on famously. Sister Ellen is now
training at the Westminster Hospital ; Sister Alice is
attending to the people here, but will go to the Hospital
after Easter ; and one is with her Superior at Rotherfield.

FRESH TROUBLES 237

We look for three or four more very shortly, and a few
days ago I had a second list from Mrs. Sidney Herbert, of
twelve ladies " too young for the East " — i.e. under thirty
— who might possibly, she thought, suit us. The money
comes in tolerably well also.

You will be sorry to hear that for the last two months Fresh
we have had the most desperate push made to get us troubles
out of the College that we have yet known. Rogers, our
Assistant Warden, who was one of our most intimate
friends, took pique at some trifle a few months since,
and being a very vindictive man, allied himself with
Messrs. H. and Co., and persecutes us to an intense degree,
by lodging complaints against one person and thing after
another, which by our Statutes must be "investigated."
He told Lord D. that he would bring charge after charge
in every possible form, would go to the highest court,
i.e. Queen's Bench (to remove me for being married and
under fifty), and would write to the Bishop. Twice we
have been obliged to have lawyers from town to defend our
people, and on Thursday, the 22nd, I am to be investigated,
R. having nineteen charges formally drawn up against me.
But I won't bother you by telling you all this. You can
have no idea what it has been and is. Lord D. has behaved
like a gentleman. If R. succeeds, as by means of the
Bishop he perhaps may, in turning me out, then all my
thoughts and wishes would turn to the Diocese of Brechin, Thmks of
Sisterhood and all. I should ask the Bishop to give me Scotland.
a place where I might work, which is my only sine qua non;
if there is any money, so much the better ; if not, it can't
be helped, and perhaps in time I might have some place
there which has some small stipend. I assure you I am
seriously thinking of this. My wife is quite prepared to
go, though naturally she would prefer England. You are
the only man out of our family to whom I have mentioned
this.

Talking of Scotland, I was amazed the other day to"Lifeand
have a letter from Dean Torry, asking me to undertake Bi^hop°f
his father's life. I might, between ourselves, have hesitated Tony."

had the application come only from him, but Pratt asked Masters-

1856.

238 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

it too. So I have consented. Masters gives me something
for it, and all the letters, etc., are sent to me. But is not
this very odd, and can you explain it ?

So I have my hands full : Sisterhood, Rogers' business,
Lent sermons, " History of the Jansenist Church in
Holland," " Mediaeval Sermons," my old " Commentary
on the Psalms" for Masters, and now Dean Tony's book.
To which you may add, the Gallican Liturgies that
G. Forbes and I are doing, and an Essay on Sequences I
have promised Daniel to write for the new Edition of his
Hymnology.

To B. W. April I4th, 1855. S. C.

. . . Cooper, the Secretary of the Archaeological Society,
was here on Thursday night, when we had our Choir
supper. He is now Curate to Maberly, and has actually
succeeded in doing something at Cuckfield.

I see people making such fools of themselves about the
reform of the Prayer-book, that I am moved to write a
good big pamphlet, shewing how it ought to be done.

I am to have a paper in the Christian Remembrancer
on the use of the vernacular in the Roman Church.1 Have
you any ideas on that subject — or facts ?

Just now I am hard at work on my book on " Mediaeval
Sermons," which Mozley pays very well for. The authors,
aevai in chronological order, are Ven. Bede ; Rabanus Maurus ;
Preachers." AttQ of Vercelli ; S. Fulbert of Chartres; S. Peter
Damiani ; S. Anselm ; S. Bruno of Aste ; Hugh of S.
Victor ; S. Hildebert ; S. Aired ; Peter of Celles ; Peter of
Blois ; S. Anthony of Padua ; B. Albert Magnus ; Thomas
a Kempis. I have purposely omitted S. Bernard, as
requiring a volume to himself.

The Sisterhood came out in their proper grey dress on
Easter Day (having hitherto worn what black each might
have). We preferred grey because the poor have so often
a prejudice against a nurse in black ; and children dislike
it so much.

1 Christian Remembrancer -, xxx. 357-384.

BEGINNING OF SISTERHOOD 239

To B. W. May 23rd, 1855. Sackville College.

Did I tell you that the Vicar, aided by Rogers, has
brought us before the Charity Commissioners ? I went to
the Board yesterday, and never wish to meet with greater
civility and kindness. I believe it will only end in pro
curing us — what I have so long been anxious to get — new
statutes.

Did I also tell you that the Sisterhood was brought up sisterhood
at the meeting of the Rural Deans of Chichester ? There ^^d
was some little disputation about it : on which Otter, the decanal
Archdeacon, who is for the plan, said that the numbers meeting.
were too great to allow a fair discussion there, and that it
had better stand over. The Bishop approved what he had
done, but told Sir H. Thompson, whom we made our pro
moter, that whenever the rules came before him he would
give all the help that he could. If, as Sir H. Thompson
says, he then stated that I was at the bottom of it, this
was very favourable. Since then the Balcombe and Frant
Deaneries have pronounced in favour of the general plan ;
the latter has sent a resolution to Miss Gream to put her
self in communication with the Bishop, which she has done.
We have now one Sister ready to be sent out, and waiting
here. She has just left Westminster Hospital with the
very highest character from the medical men. She has
been in sole charge of three wards, with nurses under her,
for three weeks in the absence of one of their Sisters.

To a lady who had written to enquire about the
Sisterhood rules.

70 L. R. July nth, 1855.

I enclose the only papers that have been printed about
it. The Bishop has approved, generally, of the principle of
the printed rules — the more detailed rules have not yet
been shewn to him — and, indeed, cannot well be made out
till we see how the thing works, and what rules it wants.

The general principle of them, however, is taken from
Clewer.

240 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To the same. July 28th, 1855.

About our own scheme.

The rule l about relations was only proposed ; the
Bishop, I imagine, approves of it.

Sisters' « The terrible pull on health and spirits," of course, is the

methods work; and anyone who is afraid of it had certainly better

not try it. Miss Jones' idea about the poor not liking it

is exactly what everyone said ; and what I knew would be

the Sister's own fault if it came true.

We can have no better example than one at Woodside,
about twelve miles from here, at this moment

The woman is dying of decline. She was afraid, when
it was first proposed to her, that " a lady " could never get
on, and so forth. To which the answer was, " Try." Now
when she sees that a lady can not only nurse and talk to
her, but cook for her, put the children to bed, mend their
clothes and so on, as readily as, and a great deal more
cleverly than, a poor woman, she and the neighbours are
perfectly amazed. I know the same willingness and
physical strength are not to be looked for in everyone ;
but still you see what can be done. She had the offer, at
the end of a fortnight, of being relieved, if she liked ; but
she earnestly asked to go on, and is there at this moment.

About food. That of course is a difficulty that must
strike everyone. I will tell you how it is managed here.

This Sister usually sleeps in a cottage about a hundred
yards from the other, unless the woman really wants her at
night (her husband returns at night and can usually do
anything for her). She goes back there at I and 7 ; cooks
of course, for herself, and has a little place screened off
with a curtain at the landing-place, where she takes her
meals, thus interfering with no one. Here also she can
cook anything for her patient. There has been no difficulty
about this.

1 RULE.— "The Sisters shall have free intercourse with their
parents, or their brothers and sisters, at any time ; but the visits of
other relations and friends, and the time of such visits, must be
previously approved by the Superior."

LETTERS OF ADVICE 241

In some cases, undoubtedly, a sick person, if it can be
done, had better be sent to the Hospital. But how often
it cannot ! Who could, for example, be sent in the last
stage of consumption — or in an infectious fever — or after a
bad confinement, or a bad accident ? Besides, were they
sent, the children in the meanwhile are ruined very likely.
Now they gain as much from the Sister as the patient does.

From letters to the Sisters a very few extracts must be
given. The first was addressed to one in training at
Westminster Hospital, quite at the beginning of the work ;
the others, to one out nursing at a rather later period.

Quinquagesima Sunday, 1855.

. . . God bless you, my dear child. Remember that Letters to
the meanest thing you have to do in the Hospital is Slsters m

.. •/• ., .7 /• TT- T > r T training.

glorious, if it is done for Him. I say from my heart, I
would rather make one poultice, or clean one saucepan for
His sake, than write the most learned book that ever was
written, for my own.

Shrove Tuesday.

Now remember : this Lent it is clearly your duty not
to fast. Therefore you are to take meat and beer exactly
as often as the others do. If you can deny yourself in any
little unostentatious way at breakfast or tea, you may, but
not at dinner, nor at supper.

Palm Sunday,
(After illness during training.}

. . . Now I hope I need not tell you not to fast this
next week ; it will be very wrong if you attempt it. You
have given your strength,— and everything else you have-
to GOD ; and He now requires it in another way.

242 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

March I2th, 1855.

(In illness during hospital training?)

..." I have done nothing all day but murmur and cry."
My dear child, it grieves me very much to hear you say so.
Do you not imagine that GOD knows best what training
as a Sister of Mercy you need ? and how, by-and-bye, will
you be able to speak to others of patience and resignation
if you don't practise it yourself now ? I know it seems
very hard to be kept back from doing a good work. But
remember this : if / gave you for a penance, not to receive
Holy Communion, or not to read or talk to the people for
a certain number of days, would you not submit at once ?
What you would do for me, can you not do for GOD ?

Try now, my dear S , with all your might, — not a

little, — not in a half-hearted way, — but put your whole
strength to it, and see whether, with the help of the HOLY
GHOST, you cannot overcome this temptation. Now do
not let yourself speak again of a complaint being "pro
voking." This is GOD'S way of educating you ; it is a
punishment which He sees you to need, and you must
take it as such. Do not think that I am speaking harshly
to you. I am very^ very sorry for you, my dear child,

and if I do not like the report I hear from S about

you, I shall, all well, come and see you myself. Let me
hear by return of post how you are, if it be only a line.

July i8th,

. . . Now about your letter. That was a great oppor
tunity you had of doing Mrs. T real good, and I hope

you will follow it up. If anyone spoke to me in that way

about the difficulty of making sure that our repentance is

real, I should try and shew them in the first place that the

very making so exceedingly painful an effort is the best

proof we can give that we are in earnest. If we were not,

why should we undergo all the shame and pain ? See

2 Cor. vii. what S. Paul says (2 Cor. vii. n) about the marks of true

ance and^ repentance, and if they do not very well describe the effort

Confession, necessary to a First Confession. Then I should go on to

LETTERS OF ADVICE 243

say how much the tendency of the self-examination neces
sary for it is to deepen repentance, when we come to go
thoroughly over months and years of carelessness, and to
give definiteness and number to what at first seems a con
fused heap. Then, that though any Priest may be most
miserably mistaken, in Confession as well as out of it, still,
he is likely to form a better judgment, from the very nature
of things, than the penitent : not only as a looker-on, but
as necessarily having so much larger an experience of what
true penitence is. And then I should speak of the blessings
of Absolution. And, dearest child, never be ashamed to
speak as from your own experience. Remember what I said
about that text, "When thou art converted, strengthen."

The fact of this poor Mrs. T 's having thus spoken to

you makes me more glad that you should be there, because
you may be a blessing to her that no words can express.

It is a pity, such exclusiveness. But I go on my old
principle, that unless a thing is positively sinful, one must
let people manage their own affairs in their own way, if
they will not take advice, when it is only advice.

May 2nd.

If there is one rule with respect to Sisters more general
than another, it is this : that, if anyone is eager to com
municate daily, and feels it a great disappointment when
she is not allowed, there must be one of two things. Either
she must be willing daily to exercise some piece of self-
denial which she really feels, as the condition of communi
cating, or else she should not be allowed to communicate
every day.

The following letter was written to a lady who was
wishing to join the Sisterhood, but who was troubled in
her mind, as was her father also, as to the propriety of
its Founder performing priestly functions owing to his
inhibition.

Perfectly illegal as the inhibition was, the Warden of
Sackville College had patiently submitted to it in respect
to all public ministrations, but when one of his spiritual
children wrote to him in perplexity, he wrote to shew the
general position he took up.

244 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Vigil of S. John Baptist (June 23rd), 1855. Sackville College.

MY DEAREST CHILD,

inhibition I feel it very difficult to express in the same note

and two apparently opposite feelings — my deep sympathy with

suspension. . .<• r r i_ • / i i i_ \

you in the fact of your having (as you clearly have) any
doubts ; and my absolute knowledge that they are as
unfounded and unnecessary as words can express. If I
say more about the latter than the former, it is simply
because to shew you that you are groundlessly vexing
yourself will be a much greater comfort to you than all
the sympathy in the world. You can read your father what
you like of this letter, and you may tell him that every
thing there he will find at infinitely greater length, and set
forth as clearly as possible, in Van Espen, who is the
authority, you know, on such points.

In the first place, let me say that this is not a matter
(as many cases of conscience are) of opinion. It is not
what I, or what Mr. this, or Dr. the other, think. Of course
there are as certain and fixed rules in the science of
theology as in any other science, and it really shews as
much ignorance to propound the S. J's. or W. opinions on
the subject as it would to say that two and two made five.

First, to take the more monstrous opinion of the two, I
daresay you already know that, in the Sacraments, some
require jurisdiction to make them valid, and some do not.
The Holy Eucharist is of the latter kind. That is, if the
whole Bench of Bishops were to suspend me, and that most
righteously and for any enormous crime whatever, and I
still persisted in celebrating, however wicked I might be,
it would nevertheless be as true and valid Eucharist as
that which the most saintly priest ever offered. If anyone
denies this, he is so absolutely ignorant of the very first
principles of theology that I, for one, would never argue
with him.

About Penance the case is different. There, if my
Bishop suspends me formally, and I make no appeal, the
Absolution is invalid, and the Confession ought to be made
over again.

SUSPENSION AND INHIBITION 245

Now observe. In the first place this must be a formal
suspension (which every other Bishop would recognize).
This is merely a local inhibition — (as you justly observe, I
have only to walk half a mile and I am all right again)
— which other Bishops expressly do not recognize ; for
example, the Bishop (Blomfield) of London (who, after
having been induced by the Bishop of Chichester to in
hibit me, gave me, on better information, express per
mission to officiate in his Diocese), and several others.
Therefore, on this ground alone, the inhibition could not
affect your Absolution.

Next: a suspension, to be valid, must have a cause
assigned. This is so universal a rule that almost all Roman
Catholic Theologians agree that the Pope himself cannot
suspend without assigning a cause. But no Catholic Theo
logian ever doubted it about any other Bishop. Now, as
you know, the Bishop of Chichester never assigned any
reason for my inhibition, and never would when asked ;
therefore, on that ground alone, it would be utterly invalid.

But suppose he had suspended me (which he has not)
— suppose he had assigned a reason (which he has not) —
it is still an universal rule that the person so suspended
has the right of appeal, and while he is under appeal (which
they technically call pendente lite), all his ministrations are
valid. Now I have appealed, and many have appealed
with me, to Convocation. On that ground alone every
thing I do would be valid.

I do not wish you to argue the point. You will believe
(I know) what I tell you, and there is no occasion to enforce
it on others ; but I should like you, if the subject occurs
again, to ask two questions.

First : Marriage and Penance stand on the same foot
ing ; this is allowed. Suppose I were to celebrate a

marriage for your father in Church : would anyone

in their senses say that it was invalid ? and what would
be said in a court of law of anyone who should try to
illegitimatize the issue of that marriage because I was
inhibited ?

Next : would the Bishop of Brechin (who may be

246 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

supposed not likely to be biassed against Bishops) have
assisted yesterday when I celebrated, or would he seriously,
as he afterwards did, have discussed with me some ques
tions connected with Confession, had he thought it possible
that my Celebrations were sacrilegious and my absolutions
invalid ? And yet I think that the Bishop may possibly

be as good a theologian as , or even as .

So I have tried to obey a rule that cannot be mistaken,
and " to give a reason " for what I have done and do. It
may not be without its use. But, my own dear child, do
you think that I could be so horribly wicked as to pretend
to receive so many confessions as I do, if there were a
shadow of doubt whether I could do it validly or not?
That is the main argument I should use to you.

And, without wishing to praise myself, I must add this,
which you know to be true — Why did the Bishop inhibit
me ? Mainly, I can have no doubt, for maintaining that
Sacrifice in the Blessed Eucharist of which you are afraid
that you shall be deprived by the fact of my being in
hibited. That is, were your doubts well founded, I could
not offer that Sacrifice unless I did not believe in it !

I went with the Bishop (of Brechin) to Hurst and
Brighton yesterday, and returned this morning.

And now I shall wait for your next letter with some
little anxiety, though I know that I ought to leave it all
in GOD'S hands. If you cannot be satisfied, I hope I shall
take it as a punishment I have deserved for many, many
faults (though not, human frailty excepted, committed
against you).

GOD bless you, my dearest child, and bring us all to
that Place where we cannot misunderstand or doubt each
other any more.

Ever yours,

J. M. NEALE.

A letter, on preparation for a First Confession, may
fitly follow here, though written a year earlier.

CONFESSION 247

S. Matthew's Day (Sept. 2ist), 1854.

MY DEAR MISS G ,

... I am truly thankful that you really mean Directions
to prepare in earnest for your First Confession. I need con*
only say that if you wish to make it to me, I will do all sion.
that is in my power to help you beforehand.

The great point is, that you should fix some definite
time for making it, and then, by GOD'S grace, keep to it.
But you may believe me, you will do nothing in earnest
till you have fixed the day, and so fixed that you deter
mine not to be turned from it except by some unforeseen
accident.

If you will write to me and tell me that your mind
is fully made up, and that you can fix a day, then I will
lose no time in writing again and telling you about your
preparation. . . .

1 5th Sunday after Trinity.

... I have not much time to write, but I will not
leave your letter a day unanswered.

Now about your First Confession. I have asked

Miss to send you one or two things which I gave

her before she made hers ; among others the form itself,
as we English people ought to have it, from the Sarum
Ritual.

You have also Gresley's book. You may have too
the books of Self-Examination there recommended. And
I think if you add to these S. Francis de Sales' "Vie
DeVote," you will have about all that is necessary.

The easiest way to make the preparation is to divide
one's life into certain portions ; for example, as regards
yours, if you went to school, it might be—

Childhood, till you went there ;

School life ;

Your life at home after that, till you became mistress
of the house ; and,

Your life subsequently to that.

248 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

The more clear grand divisions you can make, the
easier.

To me you had better begin from the beginning — "The

first sin that I remember was that I ' and so on.

When you have gone through your life till the present
time, then will be the time that / should go over it with
you, taking the Commandments in order ; but at first you
will find it best, and easiest, only to give it to me in order
of time.

I should recommend you to write the heads of all that
you have to say ; you can dilate upon them, as much as
you like, by word of mouth, but it is better to have some
kind of guide, in case you should forget anything.

Two points that it is needful above all things to
remember for a First Confession are these : —

1. That while there cannot be a more horrible sin than
ivilfully to keep back anything, however shameful or painful
it may be to confess : yet,

2. You are not to be at all troubled if you feel that
you are forgetting some things, or if afterwards you re
member that you had forgotten them. Nor does this at
all interfere with the validity of the Absolution ; because
GOD requires from no man more than he can perform.
Of course, in that case, you would confess them next time.

Only do let me ask you, for your own sake, and for the
sake of the cause we both have at heart, to be as strict
with yourself, in preparing, as possible, and as plain and
open with me as words can make you.

I know, from my own experience, the dreadful pain
of a First Confession ; and you will soon know, from yours,
if it please GOD, the comfort of it.

Now I must end ; but no pains that I can take for
you will be too great, if I can but remove one doubt or
difficulty. . . .

GOD bless you, and bring you safely and well through
this trial.

Believe me,

Yours ever,

J. M. NEALE.

CONFESSION 249

October I2th, 1854.

. . . Never mind what you call trouble ; if an hour of
my writing can give you half an hour's comfort, it will be
very well spent. I know the difficulty of the work you
have in hand, and I do trust that you will remember that
it is an opportunity you can only have once, and that you
will bear the pain and the shame bravely.

It will be a greater victory, believe me, than Lord
Raglan's in the sight of GOD.

CHAPTER XVI

1855

TOUR IN BELGIUM — SCOTLAND — HOMOEOPATHY

They tread His footsteps, who for Him endure
A life-long death ; who spend and who are spent
In labour mocked at by the world, — in strife
Both with the ill within them and without :
In self-denial that, by slow degrees,
Wearing the mortal vessel out, at length
Shall unimprison the internal light.

IN June, 1855, Mr. and Mrs. Neale took their eldest child,
Agnes, for a short tour in Belgium.

To A SISTER. June 4th, 1855.

... I will tell you, what I think you will like best to
hear, what we saw this morning at Ghent, which, as you
may know, is a city with some 90,000 inhabitants. We
were with the Priest who is the Director of the Bishop's
Seminary for the young clergy, and so saw everything to
the best advantage. In the first place, we went to the
Brothers of chief establishment of the Brothers of Christian Doctrine,
w^ose one Pr°fession is to teach children, and especially
to take charge of Sunday Schools. So all of what we
should call National Schools are under their direction ; and
in this head house there are seventeen teachers. Their
dress is a plain cassock without any girdle, and white
bands (Priests here wear black bands edged with white).
One room of their house is called the secretary's room,
and here, from eleven o'clock in the morning till late in
the afternoon, one of the brethren is always sitting with

TOUR IN BELGIUM 251

pen and ink before him, ready to write any letters for any
poor person that comes to him, and (I believe) to pay the
postage. Hence we went to one of the most interesting
things I ever saw in my life — the Hospital of the Incurables.
It is a very large building, with more than one court, and
two good gardens, and divided (the hospital part) into
wards, as an English Hospital. Here there is almost every
incurable disease that is known ; and here the Sisters are
trained, and sent into every part of Belgium. And first
we were introduced to the Mother, who is the Superior not
only of that House, but of all the Houses in Belgium.
She is the sister of a nobleman ; I should think her three
or four and thirty. We were then taken over the house
by a certain Sister Anselme, a very nice person indeed.
The wards are not remarkable, except for so conveniently
opening at one end on to the chapel. One of them was
full of blind children, making such a noise, and so happy.
The medicines are given out by two Sister druggists,
trained for that purpose ; and they also supply the poor
in the town. The kitchens would have pleased you very
much. There were several Sisters, two paring asparagus
and others busied about other matters, all chanting the Chanting
Psalms of the Hour (it was Tierce) as lustily as possible. !^ours,,
As Sister Anselme said, " They must do their work, and in the
they have no other time to say their prayers." Near to ki*chen.
this is another room, where bread and butter cutting goes
on from morning till night ; two novices are engaged
about this — one slicing the loaf with a machine, the other
buttering. All this done under a crucifix; just as the
cooking and the drug mixing. Downstairs, in a kind of
open corridor, were the deaf and dumb children — skipping
and racing and playing with the Sister in attendance, and
evidently enjoying themselves thoroughly. One little girl
was had up to shew how they say the LORD'S Prayer, not
as our deaf and dumb talk, a sign for a letter, but a sign
for a word. Near this place was a kind of court, divided
down the middle by a low wall, with two open corridors,
one on each side — one for boys, the other for girls ; this
is a kind of infant school, where the children are brought

252 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

in the morning, and sent home at night. They each wear
a medal, with their number, which number is also marked
on a little bag they bring. To be sure, what a noise they
did make ! rushing round the Priest and me to kiss our
hands and to jump up upon us. You never saw such merry
little creatures ; it is a wonder that they do not tear the
Sister in attendance to pieces. When they get too obstre
perous she has a clapper, which restores some kind of order.
Close to this was a room where their little tin basins were
put out for soup, which they were presently going to have.
Nothing can give you an idea of the way in which all the
children seem to cling to the Sisters, and seem to be as
much at home with them as they could possibly be with
their own mothers. We then went to a room where some
deaf and dumb girls were having a lesson in writing, and
very well they wrote. By this time it was time for Sexts,
and we saw the Sisters in choir. They wear then, over
their usual dress, a kind of— it comes nearer to it than
anything else — a flannel gown, not very pretty to look
at, but I daresay exceedingly comfortable in the cold
nights. There are in this house sixty-five Sisters, about
three hundred incurable patients, and about a hundred
and forty children and others. They get up at 3.30 ;
Matins at 4 ; Prime at 6, followed by Tierce and Mass ;
Sexts at 1 1 ; Nones at i ; Vespers at 4 ; Compline at 8 ;
in bed by 9. That is their day.

Now, my dear child, I have not been writing this merely
to interest you. You know, as well as I can tell you, what
enables these Sisters to do the work they do for our LORD
— namely, holiness ; and it lies as much in your power as
it does in theirs.

To B. W. June 5th, 1855.

Tour in If the intense heat and shaking of a third class will

Belgium. let me write^ j win see what j can do We left Doyer

on Wednesday evening, and were obliged to sleep at
Calais that night. Thence to Courtray, where we slept ;
Roulers, which I took ; Bruges, which I had never seen
before ; Ghent, where we were on Sunday ; Mechlin

TOUR IN BELGIUM 253

yesterday. It is excessively amusing to be with Agnes
(his daughter, aged nearly eleven) on her first tour : for
she unites so much knowledge of what Protestants might
define as ecclesiastical rubbish of all sorts with so much
childishness in other respects that it is quite curious. For
example, in her journal, which she keeps with great
diligence, she gave a very fair account of an Adoration
we saw at Bruges, and a long story about a dog that tried
to keep up with our train some way. I shall be able to
make a very decent paper for the Ecclesiologist — " Notes on
some of the less commonly visited Churches of Belgium." 1
At Courtray I was at Benediction at the Cloture of the
Month of Mary — the place crowded. Indeed, Belgium is
fairly intoxicated with the Immaculate Conception Proces
sions everywhere ; presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop
and the Archbishop of Mechlin, Apostolic Legate. That
at Ghent, on the 24th (B.V.M. Auxilium Christianorum),
had 14 Bishops and 60,000 strangers. The Director of
the Seminary told me that he had seen many, but this
far surpassed everything he ever witnessed. These Bishops
seem to " circuler " through the country : I hear of them
everywhere. It is odd to see the CREDO Mariam sine
labe Conceptam, the Credo being so prominently put
forward in the Churches.2 Really, if this is not absolutely
adding to the faith, it is difficult to say what would be.
At Bruges, as I said, we saw an Ordination, the first I
ever saw abroad, very well and reverently performed. The
Veni Creator y in unison, without music, was grand : almost
note for note with the Mechlin version. At Ghent, M. Van
dem Hinde, Director of the Seminary, to whom I had
an introduction, took us to the Establishment of the
Brothers of Christian Doctrine, and to the Hospital of the
Incurables, under the charge of the Sisters of Charity.
We were introduced to the Mother-General of Belgium
(Sister to the Governor of Brabant), and were two hours
going over the whole. I was exceedingly edified ; I had
never seen these Sisters in Choir before, except through

1 Ecclesiologist, xvi. 244-246 ; and xvii. 352-357.

2 See Christian Remembrancer ^ xxx. 417-467.!

254 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the grilles : but here we went up behind, and stood at
the entrance. Their Choir dress is simply a flannel gown.
I never saw so much of the working of the Belgium Church
as this time, nor had so high an idea of it. This morning,
Belgium as I had seen Mechlin twice, I left my wife and A. there,
.hurch. ancj staged f-o Lierre, where is one of the finest Transition
to Flamboyant Churches conceivable.1 All the tracery is
perfect, a good deal of stained glass, and a rood-loft, with
shafts of black marble, a perfect wonder of art, and very
admirably restored ; over it nine Stations of the Cross,
and, where the great rood ought to be, a magnificent
pinnacle, with miracles of S. Gommarus, the Patron Saint
Here I made my first essay at speaking Flemish, and,
greatly to my surprise, got on very well. We are going
to Namur and Ardennes, a part of Belgium I have never
been in. If it is as picturesque as this valley of Sambre
is, we shall have no occasion to complain. Were you
aware that Corpus Christi is not, since the Concordat, a
holiday in Belgium or France, the service being transferred
to the Sunday ? I wish I had been, for it has obliged
me to alter a tour in the middle. Now we are getting
to the hills, Agnes, like a hill child as she is, is getting
new life, and I must leave off to look at the scenery of
the coal-field of Belgium. Namur: a most picturesque
place this is ; but the Churches are utterly worthless.
The Cathedral is a great modern domed building, only
so far commendable that it employs the natural marbles
of the country very well.

At this time he was engaged in writing the " Life and
Times of Bishop Torry," and went to Scotland to visit
the localities before publishing the book.

Sept. 1 3th, 1855.

Did I tell you that Dean Torry was so anxious for
me to see the localities of his father's life before the book
is published, that I am going to Peterhead next month ?
It is rather a trouble ; but I am so far glad that I shall
have the opportunity of interesting some persons in the
Sisterhood, perhaps, more than I could do by writing.
1 Ecclesiologist, xvi. 244.

SCOTLAND 255

Oct. 5th, 6 a.m. G.N. Railway.

The day that is now breaking over your quiet Sussex
woods and valleys is breaking for me over the German
Ocean and the wild, rocky north-east coast of Northumber
land, for we are approaching Berwick. A lovely morning
it is, though the sun must want a quarter of an hour to
his rising ; and the waves come rippling and rolling in
the light to the grim black rocks over which we are
hurrying. There — I now can see the Tweed : here a very
unromantic stream, rolling between low damp hills ; the
tide is out, and now we are dashing over the bridge, and
are slackening speed for Berwick.

Now the sun is coming up, like a red ball, out of the
sea, into a long line of black cloud that skirts the horizon
all but — and now he has disappeared in it.

Oct. 5th, 1855. Parsonage, Burntisland.
Certainly Burntisland Parsonage is one of the most
curious places to live in I ever knew — odder than the
College, and that is saying a good deal.1 It stands on a
high, steep bank, about a hundred yards from the sea,
between which and the house, deep under a cutting, the
railway station is niched in. It is a very large house,
built in the old Scotch fashion, with stepped gables, some
two years since ; the whole place built on a plan of
Forbes's own devising — all the wood plain unstained deal,
and with the oddest mouldings. . . . Then on one side
you see all the sweep of the Forth down to the sea, on
the other, the mountains dying away in the distance as
far as Ben Lomond, and, across the strait, Edinburgh and
its hills, five miles off. All the lower part of the house
is taken up by the printing press: there are four girls
and three men who manage that ; the proofs are corrected
by Forbes himself, his wife, and her sister, both very nice,
gentle persons, and, as I can see, thoroughly good printers.
The printing room is next to the parlour ; parlour and Printing
drawing-room filled with proofs and revises and sheets
printed off. The dining-room is also his study ; and, I land.
1 See Ecclesiologist, xv. 8-iS, 428.

256 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

assure you, mine, in its greatest state of disorder, is perfect
neatness compared to that ; because, besides books and
papers that he has equally with me, he has his reams of
paper, press proofs, and everything connected with the
printing press also. He certainly is a wonderful man. In
the first place, he has to supply the press with matter, to
edit all the books, to give the final touch to all the printing,
to teach all employed in the office, which he does diligently ;
then to direct about his church (now building in the garden),
to carry on the Gospel Magazine, and to be the parish priest
besides. I have told you that he is dreadfully lame ; he
cannot rise from his chair without two crutches, and yet
he goes down the step-ladder into the lower printing room
in a way that made me quite nervous to see. Their income
is ^300 a year, and I hear that he spends £200 on his
church and school. It is quite beautiful to see his wife, who
was brought up as a great heiress, how cheerful she is, and
how she labours to help him in every possible way. There
is no curtain, or paper, nor (with scarcely an exception)
carpet in any of the rooms. . . . And so much for Burntis-
land. I left it by the railway at four yesterday — it was
a pouring afternoon for the most part — and so came on
to Dundee. . . . Dundee, the dirtiest of all dirty places,
looked blacker and grimmer than usual on a very wet
evening, and I was not sorry to get to the Bishop's. . . .
At Dundee. I came at a very opportune time. The Bishop has two
congregations here, though at the present moment they
meet in one church, owing to the other having been re
built. There are therefore four services there, and the
curate was called off by the sickness of one of the parish
priests near. At 9.30 — it was pouring — I took the first
service, Morning Prayers down to the Litany, and Holy
Communion. Then the Bishop came to the second service
at half-past eleven, and I went home by his desire, and
wrote a sermon and went up again by three. That service
I said ; and preached from " LORD, why cannot I follow
Thee now ? " Then he took me to his new church — on
the whole, except All Saints', the finest modern church
I ever saw — then we dined ; and then to the school. The

DUNDEE 257

first class, of the mill girls, was quite a new phase of
things to me. They are from eighteen to twenty-five.
He asked me to talk to them, but, as you may imagine,
I made him do so. And very well he did it. He was The
speaking to them, from the Gospel, on our LORD'S having n
taken our nature upon Him, and their bodies being the teaching.
temples of the HOLY GHOST, and I cannot imagine any
one's speaking more home and to the point, and yet with
so much delicacy, as he did. Then he went to see a man
who had committed murder and was in gaol ; and then
we went to the fourth service. The curate by this time
was come back. It was choral service, and the boys
certainly give the Gregorians uncommonly well. The
church was crammed with poor. I was to preach extem
pore, and when I got up into the pulpit, and saw that sea
of faces, I felt quite overcome. I preached from "Take
unto you the whole armour of GOD," etc., and, to be sure,
they were so very attentive. It was such a long sermon :
nearly half an hour. Then we went to the evening school
for schoolmistresses, and I was introduced to Sister Mary
(Miss Bruce), the Superior. They have five at present ;
the whole thing seems very nicely arranged. So back to
tea, and then the Bishop could only lie on the sofa, and
do nothing else. This morning we went to the school
again, and then to the hospital. There are eight wards,
each containing twenty beds ; a day and a night nurse
to each, but nothing answering to the Sisters at West
minster. There is no chaplain. The ministers of the
Establishment never go near, the Roman priests are only
allowed to visit their own people, so that the whole comes
on the Bishop. Then we went to a model lodging-house The
for the mill girls, of which the Bishop seemed very proud. Bish°p'5
By what I hear, the state of the mills here is perfectly 1™^-
frightful : bad beyond any badness that you could conceive : house.
and this is an effort to mend the evil. There are a hundred
and eighty in this house, and its accommodation shews
what their previous accommodation must have been. The
rooms are about two-thirds the size of my study, and low,
and with one small window ; each has four beds, each bed

258 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

intended to contain two persons ; all four beds of course
nearly touching. Fancy eight persons, so crammed in,
being inmates of a model lodging-house ! Add to which,
that the kitchen is in the middle, and the steam of the
broth they were cooking penetrated into all the rooms.

I can give you no idea of the noble church which the
Bishop is building here. And here such a thing is almost
necessary, on account of the multitude of religions ; yester
day I saw seven good-sized " chapels " in a row. There is
here a sect called the Glassites. One Glass, an earnest-
minded man, some seventy years ago, dissatisfied with
Presbyterianism, read the Bible for himself, and came to
the conclusion that the Holy Communion ought to be
celebrated every day if possible, that the dead ought to be
prayed for, and that " ministers " could not marry twice.
And all the best Presbyterians in Dundee joined the sect,
and it went on well till just lately. The Bishop, visiting
some one at the hospital, she told him she was a Glassite,
and that they had gone on most happily till the affair of
the rabbits. " The rabbits ? " asked the Bishop. " Thae
drearfu' and waesome rabbits," she said. Then it came
out that there had been a controversy whether it was lawful
to eat snared rabbits, on account of the blood being in
them ; and so a schism broke out !

Oct. Qth. Brechin.

To-day I have been seeing the Cathedral, or rather its
remains. It never was anything very much — not above
half the size of Shoreham — but it had one of those curious
round towers at the west end, of which there are so many
in Ireland, and only two in Scotland.

Here is a story which I heard yesterday. Lord Strath-
allan, the great-grandfather of the present, was mortally
wounded at Culloden. His chaplain, the Abbe Maitland
(for the old Scotch clergy, from their great connection with
France, took that title), was with him on the field of battle,
and the dying man wished to receive Holy Communion.
But no bread or wine could be procured. So he was com
municated with the only procurable thing — oatcake and

SCOTLAND 259

whiskey. Of course, as a real Communion, it was utterly
invalid in both kinds ; but, making all due allowance for
invincible ignorance, it was a beautiful act of Spiritual
Communion. . . .

Oct. loth. 44, Bon Accord Street, Aberdeen.
After I posted my letter to you at Brechin, I came on
by the train here. No sooner did I step out on the plat
form than Dean Torry presented himself, and I was marched
up by him to Mr. Cheyne's. Next to George Forbes, Mr.
Cheyne has the character of being the best read of any
priest in the Scotch Church ; and his activity, for he is
sixty-four or sixty-five, is quite surprising. ... At eight
I went to church. Mr. Cheyne has built it about five
years. It is over-coloured, but still has a very fine effect,
and I never heard sweeter voices than those of the choir,
who give the Gregorians remarkably well. Indeed, I know
not when I have been so much pleased with a service.

Oct. nth. Parsonage, Cruden.

This morning it seemed quite like the old times of four-
horse coaches, when I started on the Peterhead Mail at
seven. It was bitterly cold, and the blackest, dreariest
country I ever saw — a succession of low, undulating moors,
with occasional peeps of the sea to the right. At ten
I reached Cruden, and found Mr. Pratt waiting for me.
So I came here — the first time I was ever in a Scotch
country parsonage. There is a congregation of seven
hundred and fifty: two fishing villages belonging almost
entirely to the Church. Presently Mr. Pratt took me out
to see the rocks — great bold granite cliffs, with the most
singular rifts and indentations and cracks imaginable.
First the rock of Dunbay — a great place for sea-fowl, with
a most singular arch ; then the Buller of Buchan — a huge
caldron, so to speak, on the narrow rim of which you may
walk round, and see the sea both outside and in ; it makes
its way in through a natural arch. It may be three miles
from hence. I saw also the battlefield of Logic, where the
Danes were finally driven from the kingdom, and the ruins

260 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

of the chapel which was built in honour of the victory. It
seems so odd to walk about with a man like Mr. Pratt, who
was, in his young days, acquainted with the congregation
that had actually suffered in the persecution : had had
their Church fittings, Bibles, and Prayer-books burnt by
the soldiers, etc.1

The road hence North runs along the sea, with nothing
remarkable till the first sight of Peterhead, clustering on a
sharp, narrow promontory to the right, the sea between us
and it, and the sea beyond it — a very striking view. We
got in about one, and went to the house that was the
Bishop's. Hence we went about the town with a kind
of tail, sometimes more, sometimes less : over the quays
and the oil yards. This is the first whaling town in Great
Britain, and the relics of whales, in the shape of ribs, jaw
bones, etc., are quite common. I went over one of the
ships, to see how they stowed away their harpoons, etc.
The captain told me that they reckoned a whale, on an
average, worth ^"1000. I wish somebody would give a
couple of whales to the Sisterhood. Thence to the old
church, which is a ruin, and then to dinner : the last
dinner, I hope, at which I shall have to be the lion for
some time. So we drove home in the dark, but with a
great deal of agreeable talk by the way. To-morrow Mr.
Pratt is to drive me nine miles towards Aberdeen, and I
hope to walk the rest, and to get into Dundee that
night. . . .

An enquiry from Mr. Webb as to Homoeopathy led
to the following letters. Mr. and Mrs. Neale were firm
believers in the system, their only son having recovered
from a very serious illness under homoeopathic treatment.

To B. W. S. Luke (Oct. i8th), 1855. S. C.

Homoeo * ^ave not Hahnemann's " Organum " ; but it is

pathy. scarcely the book you want, even if I had it.

If anyone really wishes, dispassionately and calmly,

1 " Donaldson's Lantern," in " Tales of the Apostles' Creed," was
written after this visit.

HOMOEOPA THY 261

to see what can be said for Homoeopathy, the book is that
by a physician at Rugby, whose name I cannot at the
moment remember, — but I could find it out with the
greatest ease. I have read it, — or rather them, for it
consists of a series of tracts, and they are very able. . . .

To B. W. Vigil SS. Simon and Jude (Oct. 27th), 1855. S. C.

. . . About Homoeopathy, I find it less easy to say Homoeo-
what might lead you to try it fairly. Your parallel of Mor- Pathy-
monism fails simply in this respect, that you know d priori
the system to be wrong by an infallible guide. Besides,
Natural Religion would lead you to the same conclusion.
But I do say that a Protestant would be bound to convince
himself of the falsehood of Irvingism, if it were strongly
put before him. He can have no a priori objection to it,
except its seeming impossibility : and he ought to examine
the evidence. What would weigh with me, sufficiently to
make me wish to try the system, are these three things : —

1. The first homoeopathic medicine ever introduced,
namely, Bark, was met by the same shout of derision by
physicians that Homoeopathy was. But people preferred
being cured by it to dying under the old regime — and the
faculty gave way.

2. The second homoeopathic remedy, vaccination, was
met by a similar howl. The faculty for some time stood
on their prescriptive rights of curing the old way, or not
curing at all ; but had to give way.

3. Since the rise of Homoeopathy, the old system is
confessedly wonderfully modified : and some medicines are
beginning to be introduced into the old pharmacopoeia
borrowed from the new, e.g. Aconite and Arnica.

4. If the argument of Butler's " Analogy " be worth a
straw, Homoeopathy is true, because the same system is
true theologically.

5. The great stumbling-block, small doses, i-s no essential
part of the system. Like cures like, whether in a greater or
less degree ; try the greater, if you prefer it : but the less
is simply preferred as causing less trouble and pain.

262 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Now, when ten or twelve of your intimate acquaintance,
who are not fools, tell you that to their certain knowledge
this system does effect cures, — then I think you are bound
so far to yield to evidence, as trying it for yourself in
insignificant cases — e.g. arnica for a bruise. In the recep
tion of any truth, there must be a certain degree of faith
before conviction, — enough to say, at all events, I will
fairly try this. If everyone had always acted as you are
now disposed to do, no true system would ever have taken
the place of a false one. You cannot be first convinced
and then experiment ; you must try, in order to be
convinced. There is a Homoeopathic lecture for you !

To B. W. Nov. 3rd, 1855. S. C.

Homoeo- . . . About Homoeopathy ; and this for the last time.
No one ever was convinced of the truth of a new system
by seeking a philosophical a priori proof of it as you are
doing now. You refer to S. Paul at Athens ; and the case
is against you. No one ever did, or could, adduce a finer
a priori argument, but it was a failure ; and I never doubted,
that it is there set down as a failure to shew us that we
are not to teach any truth in that way. At Lystra he did
one miracle ; and it was enough. I know that you despise
miracles as evidence ; but then you ought to remember
our LORD'S own words, " If I had not done among them,"
etc. What is true of one kind of truth is of another. Why
I say that you ought to believe in Homoeopathy, is princi
pally this : that it challenges your assent from the number
of its cures, as compared with the old system. Of this you
may satisfy yourself by looking at any statistical account
of the two systems. It is not a matter of opinion. If you
must needs have a philosophic reason, of course it could be
that it is a system, and that like cures like everywhere in it.
The Establishment has no system. Sometimes like cures,
— as bark, ague, and then it is Homoeopathy ; sometimes
opposite cures, as Mindererus, fever, and then it is Alo-
pathy ; sometimes contrast cures, as blister, internal inflam
mation, and then it is Antipathy. Was ever a hodgepodge
of nostrums like this called a system ! Remember, on

HOMOEOPATHY 263

your own shewing, if you had had an ague in Charles II.'s
time, you must have rejected bark, — the whole medical
profession was against it ; and other things sometimes
cured ague. If you had lost a leg in Louis XV.'s time,
you must have rejected the Tourniquet, — the whole
medical profession was against it ; and red-hot iron stops
haemorrhage. If you had been exposed to smallpox in
George I II.'s time, you must have rejected vaccination, —
the whole medical profession was against it ; and inocula
tion is confessedly a remedy. I believe that you would
have rejected all, but you must confess that you would
have been wrong.

And now about the charge of imposture. Valeat quan
tum. Every establishment medical man brings it against
homoeopathists. They say, Homoeopathy never did a single
cure, its practitioners are invariably impostors. But you
say, No ; it has its cures. Therefore, in your judgment,
alopathists, in opposing Homoeopathy, always make a false
statement. One must distinguish. Nine-tenths of alo
pathists have never yet had the claims of Homoeopathy
brought before them. I pass no judgment on these. Of
the rest, some have simply laughed at it, and never tried
it. There is a certain moral fault here — not imposture, and
varying according to the case. But there are some who
say they have tried it, and who by their own confession
are known not to have tried it ; and they are impostors.
Crawford is one. I have heard such a man say, " It must
be all stuff and nonsense ; I have swallowed a whole phial
of pillules, and there was no effect." That simply shews
that he never read a Homoeopathic book ; and does
not know, that in such a [illegible] he is merely talking
the most horrible trash. I have heard them say, "There
fore, if I take a dose of arsenic, a grain of arsenic will
cure it " ; confusing like curing like, and the same curing
the same. Poor creatures ! You will not say this is honest,
but these are the two commonest arguments. After all, try
the thing for yourself, in cases where you are as good a
judge as any doctor. Try arnica for a bruise, which you
may any day. Try aconite in fever with inflammation ; or

264 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

belladonna for a sore throat. I was talking to a country
gentleman at a dinner party the other day on the subject,
and he was laughing at Homoeopathy. " Have you ever
tried it?"— ''Oh yes, I never use any other medicine." —
" No other medicine ? " — " Oh no, I know the people that
take your medicines get well : I always give them to my
children ; — but it has nothing to do with the medicine ;
how can it ? It is a mere chance." " Probably leaving
Nature to herself," suggested the host. Very philosophical,
both gentlemen. Now, I shall write no more about it, for
I have enough to do besides ; but I wish you would try it
in an indifferent case ; and (as I do not think you would
argue like my friend above) you must believe. In the
meantime, from your doubts about Homoeopathy I ought
to learn patience for other doubts about more important
truths. " If I have told you earthly things and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things ? "

We have lost no case in the fever ; nor have the Sisters
suffered. I must say that, the more I hear of them, the
more highly I think, on the whole, of the morale of country
doctors. Sending in one of their own beds, for example,
into the cottages ; insisting that the Nurse shall sometimes
dine with them, and that she shall sometimes have a
drive for the sake of fresh air. In praising them, I don't
mean to dispraise the clergy, who also have done well.

To B. W. Nov. 26th, 1855. Reigate Junction.

I am on my way to see my poor sister-in-law, Elizabeth
Webster, at Godalming, who is, I fear, in the last stage of
consumption.

Respecting While I am waiting for the train, I will tell you of a con-

Sisters out ventional difficulty connected with the Sisterhood, in which

ing* your advice is likely to be as good as any man's in England.

You know that, when they are " out," it frequently happens

that they take their meals at the clergyman's house,

and if they have not night nursing, sleep there. At

present, if it so happened, that this clergyman had a friend

or two to dinner, the Sister has nevertheless dined with

them just as usual. Now this scandalizes the Clewer people,

A QUESTION 265

with whom we are on intimate terms. They say that for
a Sister to dine out at a " party " is unsuitable to her
position. I confess I do not see this. It strikes me that
if she is, so to speak, living in a clergyman's house, it
would be the height of unreality to dine by herself that
day because there were one or two chance visitors. Of
course, in case of a large set party, her own natural taste
and feeling would lead her not to be there. But the
question is, whether you think any rule could or should be
made about this. One must first define what you mean
by a party, or a large party ; and how to do that I don't
know. For my own part, I get more and more an abhor
rence of arbitrary rule ; still, the Clewer people may be
right. Anyhow, I should like your opinion. I wish you
would send me such a letter as I might shew Miss Gream.

The following letter was written shortly after this to
his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Webster.

Jan. 29th, 1856. S. C.

MY DEAREST SISTER,

It is a long time since I have written to you, but, Letter to
as you know, I have heard of you constantly.

When Sarah goes to see you, which I hope will be
before long, I should like to go with her. Mary Anne's
last accounts of you were what people would call not so
good j to you, I should think, they would be better. If
you had ascended as many mountains as I have, you would
know that one always rejoices when the rocks get steeper
and almost perpendicular, because it is a sign that one is
almost at the top.

I was reading Mr. Budd's Life the other day — you
know I read all sorts of lives — and there is a very good
series of letters which he wrote to a sister-in-law who was
dying from some long, protracted illness. If E. could
borrow the book, I think you would like to look at them.

I am just now writing the Passiontide number of
Newland's sermons.1 The morning sermons will shew the
analogy between our LORD'S Seven Sayings, the Seven

1 " Sermons on the Seasons of the Church." Mozley. 1856.

266 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Petitions of the Lord's Prayer, and the Seven Epistles in
the Apocalypse. The evening sermons will be on the
principal types of the Cross : as, for example, the Rod of
Moses ; Moses in the battle with Amalek ; the widow that
was gathering two sticks ; and the wood that made the
iron to swim. I shall like writing these. I wish my Third
Series of " Readings for the Aged " were out, for I think
one of them would suit you.

Agnes is in London. I am to fetch her home to
morrow. I took her to see the Dissolving Views in the
Polytechnic the other day, and certainly, in the series
about Sebastopol, " The Soldier's Dream " is the prettiest
I ever saw.

It will not be long, I hope, before I see you. GOD
bless you, my dearest E., and believe me ever,

Your affect, brother,

J. M. NEALE.

She was indeed " almost at the top " when she received
this letter, for she died February 8th, 1856.

CHAPTER XVII

1856-57

SISTERHOOD — " HYMNAL NOTED " — DISTURBANCES

There is a people, who have cast !

The strife and toil away at last :

On whom, — so calm their rest and sweet, —

The sun lights not, nor any heat ;

Give me with them at length to be,

And send me here what pleaseth Thee !

As will be seen from the following letters his time was
now very much occupied with work at and for the Sister
hood, which was daily gaining ground, in spite of a great
deal of opposition and persecution.

To B. W. Feb. 23rd, 1856. S. C.

. . . The Archdeacon (Otter) came over here the other
day with Flower — had luncheon here — went over the College
and the Chapel, and expressed himself very much pleased
with the latter, and that he could not see what people
could object to in it. He said that he should fit up
his Choir (Cowfold) with similar stalls, and get our
carpenter to make them. Also, having ordered a font
cover for the Church, he desired the carpenter to take his
orders from me — amusing enough that. Further, he work
enquired if he could have a Sister to nurse in a case in of the

Sisters

which he is interested (he subscribes to the Sisterhood). I
think he probably will. All this is very encouraging. By
the way, if you want cheap pictures for cottages, go to the
Sisterhood, they frame them, etc., with rings to hang up ;

268

LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

' Medi
aeval
Sermons.'

Obscrva-

teur

Catholique.

and what Masters charges is. 6d. for, they can sell for 6d.,
with a profit of \\d. on each. And this, though the prints
were bought in England. When I can buy a good batch in
Belgium, I have no doubt ^\d. will be enough. The money
they get thus goes to a special fund, to provide any little
comforts or luxuries for their poor patients. In like manner
the two who can paint do legends for Churches ; the rest
make and sell work. As to the money for the Sisterhood,
we got, last year, £237, and spent £185 ; and I think that
this year we may get as much as last.

I have had one sheet of my "Mediaeval Sermons," which
has some curious things in it. To make the Introductory
Essay as full as I could, I have been reading pailsful of
the sermons of the i8th century. Certainly it was worse
than we think, but I have discovered one firstrate preacher
of the i;th — Adams, Rector of S. Benet, Paul's Wharf,
turned out in the Great Rebellion. ... I take in regularly
the Observateur Catholique. I do not believe that there is
one doctrinal point on which we and that party disagree ;
it is a wonderful pity that some steps are not taken to
make us know each other better. If I go to Utrecht this
year again, as I hope I shall, I will try to interest Karsten,
the Rector of their Seminary, in this. I hope you read my
notice of Qtielques Mots in the Guardian. I will do the
Observateur Catholique for them. Have you read Hare's
" China " ? I mean the new book.

Work
of the
Sisters.

March 6th, 1856. S. C.

. . . Our Sisters, after a rest from the general healthi
ness of the winter, are now in very active work again.
Chandler, of Witley, has one — a case of typhus. Did I tell
you that the Archdeacon, after enquiring about what another
was doing in the village where she is, said, " Well, we
shall have no trouble in getting the money when we begin
to build." One very curious thing is this. They all tell
me that, travelling as they always do in the cheapest class,
whatever it may be, the porters are always so extraordi
narily civil — waiting on them first, etc.

A DAY'S WORK 269

To B. W. Easter Day, 1856. S. C.

All good Easter wishes to you and yours. It has only Easter
been Holy Week that has prevented your having H. S. L. Day- l856-
sooner,1 but now I will send it without loss of time. I
will tell you my occupations yesterday : except in the
evening, they have been much the same all this week. I
was up a little after 5, and wrote a sermon. At 7.30,
Prime. Then I heard a tolerably long Confession. At
9, Morning Prayers, and I preached my sermon. Then I
corrected the Sequences and a proof of the Hymns. Then
I had to write and send off a letter about an urgent appli
cation that came for one of our Sisters. At 10.30, the Dry
Office. After that I heard another Confession till Sexts.
Then I began to write a sermon for the First Vespers —
interspersed with looking after the decorations in the
Chapel ; which two occupations took up the afternoon till
4. Then I corrected proofs for Forbes. At 6, the First
Vespers, and my sermon. Then I was writing letters till
8, when supper. Then at 8.30 came the choir ; and about Carols
9 we went out into the town. It was a still night, dark at ^ing m
first, but the moon came out. There was a great crowd, so Grinstead.
as quite to block up Middle Row ; but everything perfectly
quiet. The Sequence, " A Song, a Song," which they had
taken a great deal of pains with, had a capital effect. It
is very odd to see how by perseverance you may conquer
a set of men. I remember when I could not walk through
the streets at night without being hooted at, and having
dogs set at me. Now, when I go with the Carols, I always
wear my cap and gown. Agnes and Vincent and the
servants go (my wife was too tired last night), and every
body behaves with marked civility. Now it is almost time
to celebrate, so I leave off.

To B. W. April I4th, 1856. S. C.

... I am sorry that you begin to have any doubts
about H. S. L.,1 not because it is my writing but because

1 Four letters under the signature of H . S. L., " On the Theory of the
Prayer-book," appeared in the Ecclesiologist for February, June, and
August, 1856 ; and in that for June, 1857. H. S. L. = the second conso
nant in each of his names, as O. A. E. the first vowel (see pp. 206, 287).

270 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I am sure it is a really practical subject which we ought

to take up, unless we want people to give us credit for

playing with Ecclesiology. If we had acted so about

Chancels, Screens, and Middle Pointed, we never should

Article on have had any. None of us can doubt that the Prayer-

proposed book win be altered ; l and if we do not speak out about it

of Grayer- now, it will be no use grumbling when we find ourselves

book. saddled with an afternoon " Dearly Beloved," or an even

ing Venite, or any other monstrosity. Besides, I know that

several people were interested in that first letter, and would

have been more so with the others. Scott's argument is

absurd ; for with what face can we press the adoption of

any alterations, unless we shew that they are needed ? and

how can we do that, except by exhibiting the nakedness

of the land ? Your Editorial Notice is enough to shelter

the Ecclesiologist from all blame ; and it is high time to

speak out. So I shall still hope that the letter will go in ;

only I want to add about the other reforms of the Psalter.

Remember, too, I set out by saying that, if our Prayer-

book is bad, Quignon's is worse ; which ought to shew

that one does not find fault for the sake of Romanizing.

" Medi- For the Introductory Essay to my " Mediaeval Sermons,"

aevai j jiave been looking through some 100 or 120 volumes of

18th-century sermons. I could not have conceived such

trash. However, there is some fun in them : e.g. one Arch

deacon Jefferies writes a treatise on Cant, which he thus

divides : —

1. Popish, as Thomas a Kempis and de Sales.

2. Protestant, and that —

a. in the establishment, or
/3. out of it.
And I have found one or two odd Ecclesiological things.

To B. W. Rogation Monday, April 28th, 1856. S. C.

What takes up most of my thoughts now is the extra-
First house ordinary success of our Sisterhood. I know of five more

for Sisters w^o are abOut to join us i three, directly ; two, in three
Grinstead. months. This is exclusive of the six we have ; and four
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xxxix. 208-229.

SISTERHOOD 271

others, who will come. Four of the five have ample means
—say, £120 or £150 a year. We have long seen that the
two cottages at Rotherfield would not do much longer.
Now we have taken a house here — close to the College—
between it and the Church. A red-brick building of 1753,
ugly enough, but not offensive. It will hold twelve sisters,
well ; what is the present house at Rotherfield we turn into
a Cottage Hospital. The house here is taken from Mid
summer. Before that, I hope by the intervention of the
Archdeacon, who is heartily on our side, to be right with
the Bishop. The Oratory will be made out of a little
building, gabled east and west, that was used to hold a
pony-chaise. G. Bodley, who is really doing very well, is
the architect. It is at present detached ; but will be joined
to the house by a short passage. Now I want your advice
on two points — the one Ecclesiological, the other Moral.
In the Oratory, do you hold to this arrangement ? (Here
follows a little plan and details of Oratory.) Next. We
should all agree that they ought to have modern books
to read, if they like, at certain times. We have here a man Secular
who gets down a set from Mudie's ; and so are very well books for

Sisters.

off. But now, what about novels ? Would you absolutely
say, You shall never read one ? or would you rather say, I
will choose for you ; and you may read, if you like, those ?
I confess, whether right or wrong, and however much it
might shock some people, I believe that this is the right
way. I say this without any prejudice whatever. You
know what an inveterate devourer of novels I used to be.
The only thing in which I see I am getting old is, that
now it is a positive bore to me to read them. Yet some
that I look at, I do really think our Sisters might read with
real profit.

It may be interesting to recall here some of my father's
favourite novelists and novels. He was a great admirer of Novels and
Dickens, and often read " Pickwick " aloud to his children : novelists.
he had read it at Cambridge as it came out in numbers
(I think weekly), and he often told us how the men used to
walk out along the road to meet the coach which was bring
ing the latest number down, and how one and another little

272 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

group of undergraduates might be seen standing around
whilst one of them read aloud Sam Weller's latest witti
cism, or Mr. Winkle's latest absurdity.1 Anthony Trollope's
novels, too, were great favourites with him, especially
the " Warden " and " Framley Parsonage " — Lucy Robarts
and Lady Lufton were two of his favourite characters.
To Trollope he used to give as his highest praise, praise
very characteristic of himself, that some parts of his novels
must have been written by a woman, so good were they !
Other favourite books of his were Kingsley's " Two Years
Ago," Miss Martineau's " Deerbrook," and George Eliot's
" Scenes from Clerical Life " ; also Helps' " Friends in
Council." I do not think he cared for Thackeray ; Jane
Austen he admired, especially her " Pride and Prejudice."
He was a rapid and omnivorous reader. There was a story
about him and the Bishop of Brechin having nothing to
read once when they were travelling in Portugal, except
"Queechy," so they tore the book in halves and divided it
between them. It answered its purpose, as its dulness
proved a splendid soporific, both of them being inveterate
readers in bed.

To B. W. June loth, 1856. S. C.

sisters' . . . They (the Sisters) have settled in here very quietly

with no further expression of feeling than that the Vicar — I
suppose for their benefit — preached a sermon on Popery on
Sunday. Miss Gream called on him, to explain to him,
that in coming here they had not the remotest intention of
interfering with him or his parish ; though, of course, if he
liked to employ them, etc., etc. He was quite as civil as
could be expected ; said that he knew the great benefit of
good nursing, etc., but that if ever he asked them to nurse,
they must expect to have their religious practices looked
very carefully after. The Confirmation is on the I2th. I
have asked the Bishop if he will admit Agnes, but have
not yet had his answer. One advantage of the Sisterhood
I certainly never contemplated, namely, that it has given
me a most practical acquaintance with the Sarum Hours ;
and shewn one the use and meaning of things which except
by experience one never could have discerned. I will send

* Cf.p. 13.

DISTURBANCES 273

you the next Sequences before I go : the " Theory of the
Prayer-book " shall stay over till my return. They intend
to begin a school at Midsummer for tradesmen's daughters,
for we must do everything to make the Sisterhood self-
supporting. I find that six guineas is the average charge
in English R. C. Convents, but that there are a good
many extras. One of our Sisters is a firstrate German
scholar, so that, as she tells me, she as often thinks in
German as in English.

To B. W. July 24th, 1856.

Sheer despair of telling you all that has happened has
been the reason of my long silence. But as it will not
become easier to write by waiting, I really must set to work
in earnest, and send you a long letter.

At the end of June, I had the offer of a small living,
and declined it. The next week, Rogers began all his
annoyances over again, to an extent that one could
hardly have thought possible in a civilized land. Starting
on the hypothesis that Lord D. is not patron, and I not More dis-
Warden, he gave out his intention of taking away all our turbances-
rooms from us, except two, and filling them with poor
people ; and accordingly, on the 5th of July, he took one
by force, and put a woman into it without any warrant of
any kind, breaking open the door. Tooke's advice was to
resist force by force (in which opinion, my brother-in-law,
Tom Webster,1 after seeing the Charity Commissioners,
afterwards concurred). Three times, therefore, we turned
out the intruder ; while R. was daily smashing open doors,
smashing out windows, etc. ; the police not daring to inter
fere, as being a disputed right. At last, one of our people,
in resisting him, was handed over to the police for an
assault. The magistrates met ; and after a three-hours'
hearing, inflicted a nominal fine ; thereby leaving us in
possession of the field. The children we had sent to
Brighton. Orders have now been given to the police to
take up R. if he breaks open any more doors, because,

1 Thomas Webster, Q.C., father of the present Lord Chief Justice.

274 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

though not a breach of the peace in itself, it was so calcu
lated to provoke one. Well, it was impossible to live in this
state of things — (R. one night brought a friend, and they
both sat with us with their hats on, while we were at tea).
So we made up our minds to leave the place. The Sisters
were willing to work anywhere with me ; and I wrote after
the living. It had just been given away. Still, we resolved
to go somewhere ; but determined to wait first till after the
Confirmation, making our final resolution depend on the
Bishop's conduct then. In the meantime affairs began to
brighten. Lord D. was very civil ; the Charity Com
missioners declined any new scheme ; and West resolves
to interfere no longer. On Saturday, the I2th, the Bishop
came. I sent him a note, asking him (as he had once
promised before) to come and see the College. He wrote
back a most civil answer, declining on the score of time,
but adding that, if he were informed what we wished him
to do as regarded the College, he would see if it could be
arranged. He then went to S. Margaret's, enquired into
their numbers and proceedings ; gave the Sisters his bless
ing ; told them that he prayed to GOD to support and
strengthen them, etc. ; — in short, no one could be kinder
than he was, or could sanction them more fully. Things
being in this condition, Woodard asks for, and gets, an
interview (last Monday). On Tuesday he came here, and
reports that he has no doubt of our success with the Bishop.
So now, of course, we think of nothing less than going. R.
is sent to Coventry by almost everyone ; and we are waiting,
in the greatest hopes, for the next move of A(shurst)
T(urner) C(hichester).

Daily . . . Now to speak about the Sisterhood. We have

Sisterhood e^^^ sisters now, and as you shall see, I have no sinecure
with them. I go in at 7, say their Litany for them, and
then celebrate. With this Celebration you would be very
much struck, although at present the Oratory is only a
common room ; but altogether it is unlike anything I ever
saw in England. At the Offertory of the elements they
sing the Pange lingua down to Sola fides sufficit. Then,
immediately after Consecration, the Tantum ergo. At 10

DAILY ROUTINE 275

I go in again to see if there is anything to be done in the
way of business. Tierce, Sexts, and Nones they generally
say for themselves ; but on Wednesdays and Fridays I
say Sexts for them, and they have a sermonet directly
after. (They always stay in the Oratory from 12 to I.)
Directly after our prayers I read evening prayers for them ;
and then I take them all together in the common room
as a class, to get them up in catechizing, which they are
so often called on to do. That takes till about 7.15.
At 9.45 I say Compline for them ; and that is the day's
routine. On Sunday, Holy Communion in the morning.
The Hours they cannot keep, because of going to Church.
At 7 I go over and say their Litany (of the Name of
Jesus) ; they then sing the Sequence melody of Jesu
dulcis memoria^ and then we have a sermonet, but no
class. On Monday they begin a middle school here ; we
have turned a detached washhouse into the schoolroom.
Our regular income now, exclusive of subscriptions and School
exclusive of the school, is about £170. The expense is
not less than £300, so we are not yet self-supporting.

The following letter, from my mother to my elder
sister, was written during this time of trial.

July 8th, 1856.

MY DEAREST CHILD,

We have had a very trying time of it since last Letter
Friday, and I am quite glad you were at Brighton, although from Mrs<
I have wanted you very much, and your dear brother most
of all has been a sufferer by your absence. It is quite
trying to me to see how acutely he feels the reproaches of
that " naughty man," and his bitter speeches to and of his
dear Papa ; in time he will get more hardened to this
unkind treatment of the best of parents. It is very nice
that he should go to Brighton now you are there. You
must pray for us, dear child, in our present state of war
fare ; there is a needs be for it — of that we are sure ; and
He who lays on us the burthen will give us grace to profit
by it if we faint not ; but I am in a very fainting condition
to-day.

276 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

It seems so strange to think that I was in London on
Sunday, and saw all your cousins in George Street. I was
very much pleased with them ; but it seemed so to bring
back my loved Elizabeth 1 I could hardly bear it, and your
cousin Richard,2 of whom she was so fond, is such a nice
gentle bright boy, and so good too. Moreover, he has as
fine a voice as I have ever heard, and a pleasant, simple,
untaught style of singing. Your Aunt Fanny sings
extremely well — seconds. There was one sacred song I
must try after : " I am weary of striving, I fain would be
free," and it had much to do with the vein of feeling and
state of circumstances.

I heard the Bishop of Oxford at the Church they go to,
and it was a very interesting sermon. His intonation of
the passage, " Whence shall a man satisfy these men with
bread here in the Wilderness ? " I cannot forget.

Your Papa tells me he has told you that his mind is
quite made up to seek another home, and I am glad it is.
The thought of such a change is very painful to me, but
I should get reconciled to any place where there is peace
and quiet, and a possibility of keeping so, without these
volcanic eruptions of envy, hatred, and malice. With
respect to Vincent, I hope he may go to Mr. Alford, for
he wishes it so much and needs it too.

And now good night, my dear child,

Ever your very loving Mama,

S. N. NEALE.

J. M. N. to the Rev. W. RUSSELL. September, 1856.

Yes, we have indeed been most sorely persecuted ; and
now, as a last resource, Mr. R. and Mr. W. have fraternized
with the Brighton Protestant Association, which has been
holding meetings against us, and talks of a subscription to
procure an ejection [from the College].

However, thank GOD, we do not mind it, and find

plenty to do without this. I have published five books

this year : " Bishop Torry," the " Mediaeval Sermons," " S.

Antony's Concordances," the "Third Series of Readings

1 See p. 266. 2 Now Lord Alverstone.

WORK AND WORRIES 277

for the Aged," and the "Farm of Aptonga." This month
I must work hard at the Seatonian, and at a paper on the
present Gallican struggle in the French Church.1

But what takes up most of my time is the Sisterhood.
They are now settled in a very nice house between us and
the Church, close to the College : there are nine of them
at present. The Bishop, when confirming here, called on
them and gave them his blessing, and the people have
been very kind to them. Agnes and Mary go to school
there, for they have begun a day school. They take up
fully as much time as a small parish. Yesterday a lady
was brought in an invalid carriage to S. Margaret's, who
comes there literally to die among us ; she is only twenty-
four, and in the very last stage of consumption. She had
set her mind on dying in a Sisterhood.

This week I have been paying a visit to the Bishop of Bishop of
Oxford at Lavington. It was a very pleasant party— £*f^n*_nd
partly to consult what we are to do in the Denison case, son case.
It is next to certain that the sentence will be reversed, on
the legal point, in the Court of Arches.

To B. W. Sept. i Qth, 1856. S. C.

The Brighton Gazette thunders away at us every week ;
and at Lord De la Warr, too, for not only standing by
me, but embezzling the College money. In the meantime
a host of friends have risen up to us, and with six or eight
exceptions the town is quite on our side. So we take it
very coolly, and answer nothing that is in the papers.

I was at Lavington with the Bishop of Oxford the week At Laving
before last for two nights. He told me that Chichester, ton-
in talking to him about me, said, " It is very true that
there was some unpleasantness between Mr. Neale and
myself some time ago ; but that is all over now, and I
have no complaint to make about him now, except that
I am afraid he believes in Transubstantiation."

In the meantime the Sisterhood goes on capitally. Cottage
The Autumn is always the time to make play, because nursins-
of typhus and so on. Of that we have just had a terrible
1 See Christian Remembrancer^ xxxii. 423-450.

2/3 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

case at Edenbridge, the only case where, as yet, it was
necessary to send two Sisters together. The terror in the
place was so great that no one would even bring water
from the river (the only water they have) to the door ; and
when they first went, the girl, too weak to turn in bed,
had literally not been touched for a week, the only other
person in the cottage being a bedridden woman. The
parish officers are grateful beyond all measure. The doctor
said her only chance was to be fed every half-hour day
and night, which was done, and they think she will now
do. We have four Sisters out at this moment, and five
at home. The new Oratory has been finished some time.
We thought, you know, of having a sort of Infirmary for
those who are at home ; but now, instead, we think of
what the London Hospitals are crying out for, a House
of Recovery for children. Do you remember the grand
old gabled Manor House on the opposite side of the way ?
We have some thoughts of taking that.

Thus far I had written when the post came, bringing
the Brighton Gazette, of which I have desired that a copy
be sent to you, as a specimen of what we are subject to.
Also an application for a Sister to take charge of the
temporary Smallpox Hospital at Salisbury, where it is
raging. I am very well pleased to get a footing in that
Diocese.

To B. W. Nov. 8th, 1856. Sackville College.

When I remember how long it is since I have written,
and how often you have written since, I am ready to cry
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. The truth is
that, when one is every day and all day long under such
a fire as we have been enduring the last quarter of a year
from the B.P.A.,1 one quite shrinks from writing, because
it involves entering on the subject. All the uproar neither
disturbs nor hinders me any other way, and we are all as
well as possible. You have seen some of the papers, and
some of the accounts. The last phase was a meeting here
(the same that was noticed in the Guardian} ; it was
1 Brighton Protestant Association.

WORK AND WRITINGS 279

crowded, but mostly with boys and girls — and a good
proportion of ragamuffins, very few respectable people, and
the greater part merely from curiosity.

Not one single statement in my letter was contradicted ;
which virtually left us masters of the field. The usual, or
more than the usual amount of trash and blasphemy was
talked about the Holy Eucharist, and published in the
Gazette.

However, though I write about all this, do not think
that it takes up much either of my time or of my thoughts.

As to the Denison case, I confess that personally I
don't care one straw about it. Such a merely Parliamentary
Court, though accidentally presided over by the Arch
bishop, seems to me to prove nothing further than what
we knew before, namely that J. B. C. is a fool and a heretic.
I suppose we shall lose some by it, but they would have
gone anyhow.

But here is another matter. Blenkinsop, whom you
know by name, is going out to Constantinople, and is rather
anxious to take the Protest.1 I have written to ask the
Committee what they like to do ; whether they will meet,
etc. ; and if a majority say Yes, then I will call a meeting.

We have been asked, and I think shall send a little
colony of two (Sisters) into Scotland — Argyleshire — to try
and effect the civilization * and reformation of a fishing
parish. I think this will come off*. The Vicar (of East
Grinstead) of course abhors them. He said the other day,
" The first case of infectious fever I have I will ask them
to undertake it, and then perhaps we shall get rid of them!'

The " Church of Utrecht " draws towards its conclusion. Seatonian
My " Mediaeval Sermons " seem to take very well. It was poem'
a great joke, my getting the Seatonian.2 I began it on
the Tuesday morning, and the fair copy was finished on
the Wednesday evening. So I bagged £38 net by two
days' work.

Vincent is now at Godalming, with the Boyces, who,
you know, take pupils. It was so bad for him to be in

1 Page 221.

2 This was "Judith " the fourth of his ten successful Seatonian poems.

28o LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the perpetual excitement of Rogers and Co. that we sent
him off; and he seems very happy and getting on well.

Of course, I did not like Pusey's Protest ; but I still
less liked refusing to sign it when I was asked.

To an intimate friend who was suffering from a sense
of discouragement in uncongenial work he wrote about this
time : —

Feelings of It is mere natural feeling, and has nothing to do with
discourage- a most reaj ancj earnest love of our Lord.

I will shew you that I only say to you what I say
to myself. I think even you have no idea — and yet you
have more idea than anyone else — how much I suffer
from this persecution against the College ; how it distracts
my thoughts in prayer ; how it hinders my rest ; how (for
I am speaking to you without any reserve) it would tempt
me, unless I were very watchful, to think that GOD is
suffering me to be tempted above what I am able to bear.
But, though all this is so, I am not discouraged, as though
my feeling the thing so bitterly were any reason for my
believing that I were less in earnest in serving GOD. It
is merely natural temperament. So I tell myself to take
courage notwithstanding all these feelings.

To B. W. Dec. soth, 1856. S. C.

It was a great pleasure to me to hear from you ; and
most heartily I return you all your Christmas wishes. We
have had, so far as we and the College are concerned, the
happiest Christmas we have had for some time. The
Carols were never so good — partly on account of an
attempt of Rogers to put them down — nor so well listened
to ; and everything else went off well.

Four of the Sisters have now had the fever (they were
nursing a family with bad scarlet fever at Cuckfield), Miss
Gream being the last (at present at least) to take it. The
third in order had it most dangerously ; the night of its
crisis for about eight hours her life hung by a thread, and
she was quite given over ; Whyte, I think, did very well.
Now they are all able to sit up, except Miss Gream ; you

CHRISTMAS CAROLS 281

may imagine that, having no servant, and not being able
from dread of infection to procure a temporary one, it has
given the others enough to do. Silly as it was to call that
meeting at Brighton, the result has decidedly been good.
Woodard has had pailsful of money sent in to him ; and
the Bishop is more than ever set against the Protestants.
That, and the de Romestin affair, and the quarrel between
the Bishop and Coroner, have a little taken the Gazette
off us ; last week, however, it returned to the charge in
two columns of the usual fury.

Depend upon it, in the long run, such judgments as
Dodson's will do good. An abyss of injustice is much
better than a puddle of it. By the way, the Morning Star
takes up the cudgels, in a leader, to a certain extent, in
defence of me against the Protestants.

You will see, I imagine, my article on Pitzipios in
the next Christian Remembrancer}- I am afraid it smells
a little of fever, as the Archbishop of Granada's sermon
did of apoplexy.

Carol singing, alluded to above, and in many other
letters, both at Christmas and Easter, was organized at
East Grinstead by J. M. Neale after the publication of
the " Carols for Christmas and Eastertide." A choir of
men and boys was collected once or twice a week to
practise them in the Hall of Sackville College. Then
on Christmas, or Easter, Eve the Warden and his choir
sallied forth together with carol books and lanterns. This
was the way in which " Good King Wenceslas," now so
universally known, made his debut.

Apropos of this carol, one of the members of the choir,
who was a teetotaller and vegetarian, asked that the King's
command —

" Bring me flesh and bring me wine,"
might be altered to —

" Bring me milk and bring me bread."
I suppose the line to rhyme to it was to be—

" Thou and I will see him fed."
1 Christian Remembrancer, xxxiii. 200-226.

282 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

The Warden's children sang the carols to the old folks
after their supper in the Hall on Christmas Eve ; and to
this day the lines—

" Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting Hall,"

always brings back to me the picture of the Hall with its
oak wainscot and gallery, wreathed with shining ivy and
holly, where the children stood to sing ; of the old men
in their clean smocks ; of the old women in their granny
bonnets, seated round the open hearth with its big log
fire ; of the smell of spiced elder wine ; of the ruddy glow
on the lined and wrinkled faces, and bent forms, of those
whose old age had found a shelter in this harbour of
refuge, and a friend to guide them to a better one.
The Carols My brother, Vincent Neale, who has been a resident of
United the United States for half his lifetime, writing of the popu-
states. larity of the carols there, says, " Good King Wenceslas
speedily crossed the ocean, and was the favourite Christmas
Carol at the Theological Seminary, Nashota, Wisconsin,
in the early fifties, as I am informed by one who was a
divinity student there at the time." He goes on to say
that "the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, a celebrated
literary and artistic club, keeps high revel at Christmas,
and reproduces the old customs of Magdalen College,
Oxford, bringing in the boar's head, and so forth, and
during the dinner there are sung appropriate carols by a
trained choir. Dr. Neale's carols have for many anniver
saries contributed half the musical programme, namely,
* Earthly friends will change and falter/ ' Christ was
born on Christmas Day/ and ' Good King Wenceslas/
The first, with its wail of human sadness, followed and
driven off by the jubilant march of the Conqueror, repre
senting the pathos and hope of human life ; the second,
bubbling over with joy typical of a Christian's feelings at
Christmas ; the third, to those who have no faith, to whom
the Incarnation is a myth, the visit of the Magi a fable, and
the vision of the shepherds a dream, illustrating and teach
ing the beauty of self-sacrifice—

" Thou and I will see him dine,
When we bear them thither."

Here is no eleemosynary giving, it is a giving of self, a
recognition of common humanity, a meeting of man with
man. This is doubtless the chord of the ballad that strikes

GALLICAN AND RUSSIAN CHURCHES 283

so strongly and entirely the hearts of men of all conditions
and sorts."

To B. W. March nth, 1857. S. C.

We have, thank GOD, been very quiet. Our contested
election — and such a close one — has helped us a good
deal. ... I am afraid, as you say, that the country will
be with Lord Palmerston. As to those eighteen, upon
whom the Tower of Siloam did not fall, one can hardly
help thinking that they were sinners, etc.

Truly the " Hymnal Noted " seems to be going on. Hymnals.
By the way, the " Scotch Hymnal " will not be so very
bad. I have had a good finger in the pie. They have
about three times as many hymns as they should ; but
all the best are there. Also I have got into correspondence
with the Editors of the Observateur. The big man, it seems,
is Guette"e, who pulls the strings. If ever we have a free
Church, depend upon it we should make a schism there ;
and the two adjoining parts, Gallicanism and Puseyism, Gaiiican-
would coalesce. Guettee writes on the principle that, not- lsm and

. . Puseyism.

withstanding quelques divergences a opinion, we are all
working to the same end. I have just finished the Intro
duction to Utrecht (decline of French Jansenism), which is
nearly the last thing in my book. Have you seen or
heard anything of Lavigerie? I have had his Lectures
sent me. Scott has given me an article in this Christian
Remembrancer1 rather against my expectations, for I had
two running before. So that keeps me to work. ... I
have heard from Southgate ; he greatly approves of the
Protest (Eastern Church) going, and will write at the
same time. It will be forwarded to the Procurator of

the Holy Governing Synod, Count T , a man very well

disposed to the English Church. It will take at least
ten sheets of parchment in triple volume, one of the
Sisters is writing it out. I have been very busy in that
line. My sister Elizabeth had, you know, an Orphanage Origin of
at Brighton, but owing to my mother's vehement objection °JPhan-
to Sisterhoods, and the want of hands, and partly a little ^

1 Christian Remembrancer, xxxiv. 233-260 ; xxxiii. 473-508 and
349-379-

284 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

jealousy on the part of A. Wagner, she found it more than
she could manage. So we take it ; there are thirteen children,
all but two paid for. We have a house beyond the railway
station, and two of our Sisters will then live there, coming
up, however, to S. Margaret's for Holy Communion, Con-
Work of fession, Sermons, etc., but saying the Hours there. We
' shall call it, as my sister did, S. Catherine's. Elizabeth
herself goes to S. George's-in-the-East, and I should not
wonder if she were to be the head of it. A banker at
Ipswich — one Cross — offered to take the whole expense of
two Sisters for a year, with the consent of the Incumbent,
one Gay (fancy Cross and Gay as the movers in such an
affair), and £50 a year afterwards to work there. To
day we have sent one to a place called Crookham, in
Hampshire. The Scotch scheme remains in abeyance.
Indeed, with the Orphanage and Ipswich, we have hardly
strength for it. We have two new Sisters coming as
probationers, both ladies, and with some little property.
One I know well — the other I have not yet seen. I find
it rather difficult to keep them within any limits of modera
tion in Lent. However, I insist on their having meat four
times a week when they are at home, and twice every day
when they are "out." Agnes is now at Godalming — she
is to be confirmed on the iQth there, and will make her
first Communion here, all well, on Easter Day.

To B. W. March 2oth, 1857. L. B. and S. C. R.

... I am now in the greatest anxiety for the Westerton
decision, which I shall know as soon as I get to Three
Bridges.

House at I told you that one of our Sisters went to Ipswich.
Ipswich. She stayed there a week> in 5 Matthew's parish, of which

Gay is Rector. There was a kind of synod held by the
clergy of our way there, which resulted in a formal written
authorization from Gay to commence a branch of S.
Margaret's there. Cross, the banker, supplies all money,
has taken a house, and is furnishing it. I never saw any
thing more liberal than his conduct. When he took the
house, our Sister very properly said that the garden, which

EXPANSION OF SISTERHOOD 285

is a very good one, was not necessary, and that as it could
be separated from the house, it had better be so. So it
was done, and the lease signed. She had scarcely got
home when a letter came from Cross, that the house was
his duty to have, but the enclosed lease she must accept
as an offering — it was the garden. Here we are at Three
Bridges — and now for the news. Hurrah ! One could
scarcely have expected so much. The absurdity of screw
ing a cross to the super-Altar will, I suppose, give rise
to another Westerton case, for no one can say that the
judgment hinders the removal of movable crosses.

To B. W. April i8th, 1857. S. C.

... I never spent such a Holy Week before. Every- Good
thing went off well, and as I could have wished. The f1^
Sisters kept up the Devotion of the Forty Hours with garet's.
great edification, and on the Good Friday afternoon I
gave them a sermon of the stations, as I have heard it
abroad, with one verse of the Pange lingua, followed by
the Crux fidelis, between each station. My sermon was,
of course, from S. Bernard, etc., etc., and, with the Hymns,
took about two hours and a half ; altogether the effect
was very striking. On Easter Day Agnes received her
first Communion in the Oratory. On the Tuesday we
sent off our first offshoot to Ipswich ; it was some trouble
so to arrange matters to harmonize perfect local inde
pendence there with yet a kind of subordination to S.
Margaret's ; but I think that is done successfully. They
have a wonderful field open there, and every help that
money can give them. On Wednesday came the orphans
from Brighton to their new house here — there are two
Sisters with them. Their place is on the London Road,
three-quarters of a mile from here. Those two take it
by turns to come up to Holy Communion every morning
and to class in the evening ; to the latter the two eldest
girls of the Orphanage, who have been confirmed, also
come up. . . .

My grandfather's book on the Psalms is published. I
can lend you a copy if you like.

286 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

This was the " Historical Outlines of the Book of
Psalms," by John Mason Good (the father of his mother),
edited by John Mason Neale. Dr. Good, a London
physician, was a man of great and varied gifts, a ripe
Oriental scholar, Biblical critic and linguist, and as a
philologist much in advance of his times.

Besides "History of Medicine," and other scientific
works, he made metrical translations of the Psalms, Book
of Job, Book of Proverbs, and Song of Songs. It is
interesting that both he and his grandson should have
devoted so much study to the Psalms, though as com
mentators they took very different lines. Dr. Good was
occupied with the critical, historical, outward form of the
Psalms rather than with their hidden spiritual meaning ;
he by no means ignored the latter, but the bent of his
mind was scientific, not mystical. In this he and his
grandson were very different, but in their capacity for
incessant and varied work they were alike. Alike, too,
in their linguistic powers, though my father used to say
he had not attained to the measure of his grandfather.

The languages Dr. Good knew were enumerated as
follows : French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German,
Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanscrit, Persian, Arabic, Gaelic,
Chaldee, Coptic, Russian, Chinese. Translations or critiques
of the first twelve on the list had been published by him.

Dr. Good died in 1827. On his deathbed he sent for
his grandson, then about nine years old, and solemnly
blessed him in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

CHAPTER XVIII

1857-59

TOUR IN SOUTH OF FRANCE — CHILDREN-
BRITTANY

There nothing can be feeble,

There none can ever mourn,
There nothing is divided,

There nothing can be torn :
'Tis fury, ill, and scandal,

'Tis peaceless peace below ;
Peace, endless, strifeless, ageless,

The halls of Syon know.

IN 1857 his tour on the Continent was taken with Bishop
Forbes, of Brechin, and Mr. Lingard to the South of France.
These foreign tours, almost of annual occurrence, were
made with the double purpose of a breathing space from
past work, and of collecting material for future work. " The
Circuit of Mont S. Michel," after his visit to Puy, and the
" Exiles of the Cebenna," were some of the gleanings from
this field of travel.1

June 4th, 1857. Great Western of France.

. . . We were just in time to go down by the slow train
to Etampes. The country is in its full beauty ; the leaves
not massed, even in the oaks, as in England, but in their
first freshness. The sun to-day, with its intense power,
reminds us that we are getting into the South. The ex
quisite colour of the clover fields — like a pink silk hanging
shot with green, as Lingard says — struck us all. We are
now in the vine country, which does not add to the beauty
1 See also Ecclesiologist, xviii. 228-232, signed O. A. E.

288 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

of the landscape. At Etampes we found a homely inn and
civil people — quite out of the beaten track. At breakfast
we amused ourselves vastly with a loaf, which, being set
on the ground, reached as high as my head.

Tour in We have now passed Vierzon, and branched off South.

It is curious, travelling at such vast speed through so large
an extent of country, what one learns of the general ex
ternal character of the churches. They were all saddle
backs this morning ; now they are all pyramids. . . .

To A SISTER. June 5th.

It is in itself a very pleasant tour ; but I never had the
mal du pays so strong, and I shall be thankful beyond what
I can express to be with you all again. So far as beautiful
weather and glorious churches and pleasant companions
go, one could wish for nothing better. But it is such a
very different life from what mine has been for the last
year.

Bourges. At Bourges we went at once to the Cathedral, which

certainly is grand beyond all description, though it stands
alone among French Cathedrals in having no transepts.
Its wonderful height, and its windows that seem on fire
with the finest ruby glass, are glorious indeed. We went to
the top of the tower, and thence saw, like a sea-plain, the
boundless plain of Berry, with only the slightest hills
faintly marked out on the horizon ; the roads wearisomely
stretching away in all directions, and mapped out through
miles of barley and wheat clover. . . . Wishing to make
the most of the time, I went to a church called S. Peter.
While I was standing at the foot of the tower, a great
stone fell from the top, and split in pieces close to me. So
S. Pierre nearly ended the catalogue of my churches. I
think no one has had more escapes of that kind than I.
This morning we went all over the roof of the Cathedral,
and more especially up the outside of a most wonderful
flying buttress, carved into steps ; a kind of bridge at a
Soeurs dizzy height. Hence to the Convent of the Sceurs Bleues,
Bieues. Brigittines. They are very poor, and were most thankful
for five francs that we gave them. There are twenty,

TOUR IN SOUTH OF FRANCE 289

entirely occupied in education. They have eight hundred
girls, of whom we saw a large part at dinner. Some in a
large, airy shed, some in the shadow of a great wall that
forms one side of the court. The dress of the Sisters is a
common blue gown, with tight sleeves ; over this a black
shawl and black apron. They wear a cap made bonnet
fashion, and plaited — or whatever you may call it — stand
ing out beyond the face ; and a very small black bonnet
over this ; also, on the breast, not at the side, a plain silver
cross, with J.M.J. in the centre. I had a great deal of talk
with one of these Sisters, and liked her, but the children do
not seem inclined to play and romp with the Sisters, as in
Belgium. Their Oratory is not large ; they never can get
into it all together. The house they have was originally
a nobleman's mansion, and this is the original Oratory,
with a flat stone roof very finely worked in arabesque. We
walked in the gardens of the Archbishop, or, as he calls
himself, Patriarch ; and very shady and beautiful they are.

Riom.

When I posted your last letter at Nevers, I gave it to
the postmaster to see if the weight was all right. " Ah !"
he said : " mais vraiment c'est admirable ! Je ne savais pas
qu'il y avait des Soeurs en Angleterre." " Ni moi non plus,"
says a gendarme who was standing by him. That night
we saw the Cathedral — nothing like Bourges, but still very
interesting — and struck up a friendship with one of the
Canons, who introduced us to the great people. . . .
Next morning I saw part of an Ordination, and afterwards
saw the new Convent of the Sisters of Charity; it is
the Mother House of this district, and there are three
hundred. They were cleaning their chapel, and again they
put me in mind of you. In the evening we came on to this
place. . . . The garden here is lovely ; a perfect wilderness
of moss roses ; and there are cherries, strawberries, flowering
myrtles, figs and vines — a semi-tropical garden.

290 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To Mrs. NEALE. Trinity Sunday. Riom.

. . . We had a very pleasant ride of about a hundred
and ten miles yesterday evening. We are not yet among
the mountains, but they stand boldly up on the horizon ;
the Puy de Dome, with its remarkable conical head, the
king of the Auvergnat mountains, towering above the rest.
. . . This town is quite old-fashioned and out of the way ;
all the buildings of the dark lava of Auvergne, very much
resembling that of Madeira. The Cathedral, now a parish
church, is interesting, but not large — I saw a fine congrega
tion there at High Mass this morning, and heard a very
good sermon on the Blessed Sacrament. But there is not
half the devotion here that there is in Belgium or in the
Sunday north of France, and Sunday trading seems not the least
trading. put down by all the efforts mac]e against it.

We got to Brioude, the termination of the railway, late
in the evening (of Wednesday). The church here is mag
nificent and enormous, Romanesque, and the town full of
mediaeval shops, which give it a most singular appearance.

June 1 2th. Le Puy-en-Velay.

. . . Well, yesterday, Thursday and Corpus Christi, we
started at eight, in this fashion : — A gig ; our two port
manteaus fastened behind, we three inside ; the apron
drawn up ; on this, my carpet bag and our plaids ; and on
this, a woman who drove. Add two dogs — a shaggy
poodle and a terrier — and a horse, " Bijou," and you have
our cavalcade. In this fashion we travelled for seven hours,
giving our horse a bait in the middle of the day, and
" taking " churches as they occurred, through the finest and
wildest scenery, and (sometimes) roads that reminded me
of Portugal. About half-past three we reached the Chaise-
Dieu, a little Abbey town. It lies nearly at the top of a
mountain ; the air very bleak and cold ; the huge desecrated
pile of eighteenth-century work, which formed the monas
tery, having all the misery, without any of the beauty, of
our desecrated Abbeys. It is a very large and singular,
rather than beautiful church, with a hundred and fifty

TOUR IN SOUTH OF FRANCE 291

stalls, and splendid tapestry of 1529, going through the
Bible in types and anti-types. . . . Here for the first time
I saw a Pope's monument : that of Clement VI. I saw
to-day some Marist Sisters, which order I never saw before. Marist
They have about a hundred and fifty children here. Their Sisters<
dress is blue, with a black bonnet, and over the breast a
square piece of linen fastened somewhat like the Jewish
ephod, with the monogram M on it, and no cross. To
me it is very sad thus to see our dear LORD studiously
and ostentatiously rejected for His Blessed Mother. They
occupy here a part of the old buildings of the Abbey. . . .
At night, from the height, it was so bitterly cold that
Lingard and I were fain to sit by the kitchen fire. We
were so pleased with our conductress that we engaged her
again to-day, and started about eight, this time on a high
road. We stopped at noon at S. Paulien, a largish village.
I "took" the church while dinner was getting ready. . . .
In the meantime, Marie, our conductress, had been dining
at the Convent where she had been brought up, and begged
us to go and see it. So we went ; and I suppose she had
given us a good character, for we were received with great
civility. They are Recolletines (reformed, but not bare
foot, Franciscans) ; fifteen Sisters, and two hundred and
thirty children. Their infant school, and its exercises, was
excessively pretty. The children's knowledge of geography
is really wonderful. While the Bishop was talking to the
Mother, I made great friends with the Assistant Superior,
whom I told all about S. Margaret's. Her first question
(being a Frenchwoman) was, of course, what dress they
wore ; and being satisfied on that point, she proceeded to
enquire about their going out ; and to say that, where the
nursing was done near home, and by changes, as by most
of the Sisters of Charity, it was not so very bad ; but that,
as was sometimes the case, " S'ensevelir dans les villages*
entre les paysans, entre les paysannes, c'e"tait une des
choses les plus penibles, les plus heroiques, qu'on peut con-
cevoir: mais c'etait tout a fait impossible." "Sans le
secours du bon Dieu," I said ; and she smiled, and said,
" Vous avez raison."

292 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Le Puy. Well, we reached Puy about four, and a wonderful place

it is. First, and highest (the whole city lies in a hollow
amongst wild mountains), juts up the Rocher de Corneille,
on which they are about to erect the gigantic statue of
Notre Dame de France. Then, on a tall peak — a wonder
ful, dream-like peak — stands the Chapel of S. Michel,
crowded on the summit. Then the Cathedral, on the face
of a steep rock, ascended by one hundred and thirty-four
steps to the west door. Fancy the magnificent western
fagade and its height ! To-day we heard the Capitular
Mass very finely sung, and saw a procession round the
church. We are counting very much on the grand pro
cession to-morrow, when the Bishop celebrates, and the
Blessed Sacrament is carried down all those steps, and
round the town, and so up again by them.

Sunday (in the Octave of Corpus Christi).

It has been the most wonderful sight, so far as beauty

is concerned, that I ever saw ; but sadly, sadly little

devotion among the people. We were at the Cathedral

by 8.30. . . . The cure — for the Cathedral is also a parish

church — amused me by giving out in the notices, that as

this city owed its prosperity in the lace manufacture to the

intercession of S. Francis R^gis, he hoped the inhabitants

would feel bound to celebrate his feast with great devotion

Procession, on Tuesday. The procession began about half an hour

after Mass- You must try to fancy the site °f the Cathedral
to understand it. There are five flights of twelve steps
each before you come to the first western porch, of the
same width as the Cathedral itself. There are four of
these, each containing a rise of twelve steps in itself. So
you may imagine, as we stood outside the porch and looked
down from such a height, what the view of the crowd was,
lining each side, and filling the street at the bottom.
Detachments from all the regiments in the department
were drawn up at the bottom ; the General and his staff,
the Prefect of the department, and the judges, alone went
into the Cathedral. . . . You can fancy, when the proces
sion defiled into the Boulevard, the effect of the mixture

TOUR IN SOUTH OF FRANCE 293

of bright dresses and religious habits and military costume,
censers, flowers, houses all decorated, all the bells pealing,
and the bands playing alternately. The temporary altar
was in front of our hotel. As soon as the Blessed Sacra
ment was set down there, the soldiers presented arms and
fired three salutes ; while the Bishop was at his own
prayers, the band played ; and then the clergy sang the
O Salutaris, and the Lauda, Syon, Salvatorem ; and so,
after benediction, they returned the same way as they
came. But no one knelt except just as the Host passed,
and not all even then ; and I noticed one or two who did
not even take off their hats. From the situation of the
Cathedral, I suppose the effect of the ascent and descent
could hardly be equalled in Europe.

The Cathedral bells are pealing so beautifully, and
reminding me that it is time to go to Vespers.

June 1 6th. Mende.

We left Le Puy at five a.m. yesterday, and reached
here at four p.m. The way over rough, bleak, desolate
mountains ; in some places, the road higher than the top
of Snowdon. These are the Cevennes ; the Protestant The
valleys round them the most miserable, cold, and ungodly- c^vennes-
looking places you can fancy.

June 1 7th. Nismes.

We came from Mende last night, starting at five, and
getting into Alais a little before five in the morning.
Such a mountainous road ! and such precipices ! And
every now and then, in the forests, we heard the distant
barking of a wolf — responded to, most furiously, by a little
dog that we had in the diligence. We started from Alais
at six, and got here by eight. Here we find the pro
cessions of Corpus Christi not over yet, each parish taking
its day. I should have thought it a risky experiment, as,
out of the sixty thousand inhabitants of Nismes, twenty
thousand are Protestants. But the preparations are on
a much larger scale than at Puy ; every street by which

294 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the procession is to pass, lined (as the fashion is) with
sheets stitched together, on which they make devices
of flowers. The little girls who are to hold the strings
that steady the banners, in their white muslin dresses
and wreaths of white roses, flocking to S. Perpetua, the
parish church, and four temporary altars erected in the
streets.

I must not forget to tell you that I have seen the
amphitheatre here, the first I ever saw. It is very perfect :
the beasts' dens, the holes of the supports for awnings, etc.
On one stone is marked most clearly, "E-Q. C. III."
" The Knights' third row." . . . The tears more than once
came into my eyes as we were walking across the arena,
once sacred with the blood of so many martyrs.

June 1 8th.

I was writing yesterday when a letter was brought to
me, directed to the Rev. Dr. McNeil, from a certain
Pastor Sabrer, saying that he understood that so cele
brated a Protestant was staying at the hotel, and with two
Protestant ministers ; and he therefore requested us to
attend a meeting of the Consistory this evening, in order
to express our ideas on the idolatry involved in that day's
An procession. I answered him in Latin ; you may easily

Eucharistic imagine to what effect. By that time the procession came,
on< and very pretty it was. It was simply of one parish, not
a general one, and therefore no Religious. First the un
married and unengaged girls of the parish, all in white
muslin, with long white veils, with a cross of roses, and
banners ; the little ones first. Then eighteen or twenty
of those who were engaged — also in white, but with
wreaths of white roses, cross of roses and green, and
banner. Then, in single file, so as to take in a school
between them, the married women, in their best dresses,
cross and banner. Then the widows, in black, with black
veils, a plain oak cross surmounted by the crown of thorns
—no banner. (First of all, I should say, a detachment of
sappers and miners, and a very fine band.) The fiance'es
sang the Lauda Syon, Salvatorem very prettily. Then

TOUR IN SOUTH OF FRANCE 295

the Brethren of the Christian Doctrine, an immense
school ; all the boys dressed like acolytes : pink cassocks
and white muslin albs. Then the Jesuits' school, dressed
the same, every boy carrying a banner. Then twelve
pretty little dots, boys from six to eight, dressed like
Cardinals, with red hats, shoes, and tippets ; then a boy-
Bishop. After them, others dressed like various Bible
Saints ; little S. John Baptist, with his sheepskin coat, and
bare arms and legs, and cross, was tired, so his mother
carried him. Then another military band ; then the
ecclesiastics of the parish, the Cure carrying the Blessed
Sacrament, the lines of soldiers in the Place presenting
arms as It passed. Behind the canopy the Bishop walked,
his train supported by pages ; and then a detachment from
a regiment. I hear that this was an experiment. In the
time of Louis Philippe these processions were not allowed
where there was any considerable number of Protestants,
and they had not yet been tried at Nismes on this scale.
The civil authorities, I am told, had a strong body of
gendarmes ready, in case any indignity had been offered
to the Blessed Sacrament. But the whole thing was most
successful. The Protestants, most of them, covered their
houses with hangings as well as the Catholics.

June iQth. Aries.

. . . Yesterday we reached Aries. A most curious,
filthy old city — quite an out-of-the-way, old-fashioned
place ; but very interesting to me as the scene of so many
celebrated Councils. I first saw the Cathedral, where I
commended all of you to GOD'S care ; then the Museum,
in the desecrated church of S. Anne. Here are multitudes
of early Christian monuments, exceedingly interesting.
Then to the Amphitheatre, in some respects more perfect Amphi-
than that of Nismes. Then to a creche, built on the walls
of the amphitheatre, managed by six Sisters of Charity.
They had forty babies, and take them from six to six.
Then to the Aliscampo (the Elysii campi), the burial place
of Roman Aries. It was partly violated by the railway

296 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

terminus, and a great number of Christian monuments
brought to light. This morning the Bishop and I walked
to Montmajour, three miles from here ; a most curious
Romanesque church, with remains of a great late Abbey.
It stands very finely on the edge of a rocky hill, amidst
olives, and pomegranates, and figs, and vines. Here is
also the cell and the confessional of S. Ruffienus, the
earliest genuine confessional I ever saw, carved out of
the rock, and at such a height as to shew that, according
to very primitive custom, the penitent stood. A very
curious little chapel of S. Cross also, of which the date,
1019, is known. After luncheon I took the Cathedral,
and was amused by a rehearsal in it. The Archbishop
hearsai. Qf ^.^ WJIQ jg a|gQ Archbishop of Aries, is coming here
for the first time to-morrow, and is to celebrate pontifically
on Sunday in S. Cesarius. The clergy were rehearsing
a Pontifical Mass : one of them, with a stumpy stick for
pastoral staff, and hat for mitre, acting as Bishop — being
censed, giving the benediction, etc.

Vigil of S. John Baptist (June 23rd). Valence.

. . . To-morrow we start early, and shall pass the
night — for I can hardly say sleep — at the Grande Char
treuse. I shall be delighted to see it again. Think of
me, if you wake, as having Matins between eleven and
two, in that wonderfully solemn church, that seems to
bring you as near to the next world as anything can do
in this. On Thursday night, all well, I shall be travelling ;
cross on Friday ; and so get to East Grinstead on Saturday
morning.

To B. W. July I5th, 1857. S. C.

. . . You cannot think what a handsome book the
" History of Utrecht " will be : a full-sized octavo, of, as
I guess, 500 pages, and a very good type. Now that that
is, virtually, off my hands, I am tooth and nail at work
on " Antioch." . . I have made, I think, rather a curious

CHILDREN 297

discovery. In the Antiphonary of S. Gregory, at the
Easter Baptism, is a hymn beginning—

" Audite vocem hymni
Et vos qui estis digni
In hac beata nocte hymn.

Descendite ad fontes."

You see, anacreontic in its rhythm. Now compare Eph. v.
14:

Aid A-e^ei,
£yeipe b KccfleuSeoi/,

Kttl OLVaffTO. £K TUIV

trot 6

Is not this, clearly, both from rhythm and subject, a
baptismal hymn also ? 1

To J. HASKOLL. July i8th, 1857. S. C.

I am glad you can understand one's love for children.
Your little girl has a sufficiently pretty name. We have
enough just now : two of the Boyces besides our five. I
don't think I ever worked so hard in all my life, or ever
felt better. Every day I am in the Oratory by 7, and
three days in the week I contrive to get up at 4. I have
taken very much to the Orphanage, partly, I believe, The Or-
because the children have taken to me. phanage.

It was no wonder that children took to him ; he had
a natural gift for teaching them, and explaining things in
simple words, inherited from his father, Cornelius Neale.
And this natural gift had a great deal of practice, for it
must be remembered that for no less than twenty years
he preached every Sunday evening to a little congregation
composed of unlearned folk : old men and women, children
and servants. Besides this, every Sunday afternoon, after
the Orphanage (then called S. Katherine's) was started, he
catechized or preached to the children there. Sometimes
his teaching took the form of allegories carried on from
one Sunday to another. Two of his books, " Sunday After- His
noons at an Orphanage " and " Sermons to Children," method of
contain these and his teachings at S. Agnes' school. I teachins-
think one may safely say he never preached a dull sermon

1 Cp. Christian Remembrancer, xliv. 406-440.

298 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

to children, nor one above their heads. And as regards
his own children, two of them in turn generally accom
panied him when he preached at the Orphanage: two
only because of the want of space ; but he never failed
to set aside the time after chapel on Sunday evenings to
hear us all repeat our verses by heart, word for word.
Hymns, too, or poetry were repeated to him by us, and
our "texts" shewn up, this being a written exercise on
questions set for us every Sunday to be shewn to him on
the next. He was particular that one new verse of the
Bible should be learnt, absolutely accurately, every day, and
two old verses " looked over " ; and these six new and
twelve old verses were repeated to him on Sunday by each
of us in turn, beginning with the youngest These repeti
tions and exercises over, sometimes he joined with us in
a Sunday game : " capping " verses was a great favourite.
He had found, in one of his mediaeval researches, that the
children brought up in monasteries were taught thus to
repeat verses, i.e. to cap with another verse beginning with
the first letter of the last word in the previous one. Thirty
seconds only were allowed us for reflection, and if the
verse were not capped in that time, the defaulter was " out
of the game." To avoid irreverence, no text relative to
our Lord's Passion was allowed ; nor did we play the
game except with our parents. Sometimes visitors staying
with us would join in it: Dr. Littledale, who generally
spent Easter with us, was one of these.

To B. W. Aug. 3ist, 1857. S. C.

Divorce Yes ; I agree with you about the Divorce Bill. How

strange that a R.C. peer should, in point of fact, have
made it law. I doubt, after all, whether their discipline
is very much stricter than ours.

The Archdeacon is now employing one of our Sisters,
and has quite committed himself to us. Fancy our original
three having multiplied into eleven ! How the money
comes is really marvellous. We want at least ^5°° a
year, and we have not more than £120 or £130 of self-
supportingness. For the first time, the Vicar worked with
me at the Divorce Bill ; he would not himself take the
trouble to get any names to a petition, but he let me use
his — and I got 130 signatures.

TROUBLES 299

Well, I must set about Nevers for you. Did I tell you
that Brechinensis is going next year, in all probability,
to confirm at S. Petersburg, Moscow, and perhaps Arch
angel, and that he has offered to take me as his Chaplain ?
The Russian Company pays all expenses. I should learn
more Ecclesiology in a month than in a year anywhere
else. Just imagine seeing Novgorod !

This journey was never undertaken.

A full account of the Lewes riots having been given in
Mrs. Charles Towle's " Memoir " and in the S. Margaret's
magazine, two letters only referring to that disgraceful
event shall appear here.

To B. W. Dec. 7th, 1857.

I am writing in bed, so you must excuse pencil. Your
letter was a great pleasure, because if, without knowing a
single true fact, you judge so favourably, when you have
the true story, not only stated, but stated so that it cannot
be contradicted, I am sure you will be pleased.

I don't think, however, that I ever suffered so much
as in these last ten days. However innocent, or, rather,
however right, one may know oneself to be, it is not
pleasant to be posted over England as a rascal. I cannot
write much, and will not forestall my defence ; it is all
written except a page or two. It will be in the form of
a letter to the Bishop. I have sent it up to Chambers «The
to-day, not being able to go up myself. Lewes

I was not well, and indeed in bed, before the ending of
her illness ; and the anxiety of that, and this, has quite conse-

knocked me Up. quences :

I do think you will be surprised when you see the facts. \^^

Bishop
of Chi-
Dec. I9th, 1857. Chester."

This has helped S. Margaret's wonderfully. We have Masters>
five more about to begin, one on Christmas Day ; and at
the present moment seven applications for help.

300 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

T°}> H. Christmas Day, 1857.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

I must write some letters to-day, and so I may
as well take the pleasant ones. Your other letter never
reached me, but I was quite sure there was some good
reason why I did not hear. I am very much pleased that
you think of my letter [the published one re the Lewes
riots] as you do ; this I can truly say, that, all such criti
cisms as those in the last Guardian, where people lay down
the law as to what I ought to have done, only make me
see more clearly that it was all but impossible to act other
wise than as I did. If I had done as the Guardian would
have me, with the long harangue and all, I should have
been simply mad.

To J. HASKOLL. Christmas Day, 1857. S. C

I have every reason to be satisfied, thank GOD, with

the success of my letter ; it is in the third edition now, with

a little preface. If I can screw some copies out of Parker,

I will send you in a few days my " History of the Church

of Holland." It will be the handsomest book of mine that

there is ; better, I think, than " Bishop Tony." Also you

"Sermons sna^ nave tne Canticles. Had it not been for all this dis-

on the turbance, I should have had a story ready for Christmas,

Canticles." after the fashion of " The Egyptian Wanderers," written by a

priest of Aries in the Decian persecution (when the Bishop

apostatized). I was at Aries in the spring, for you know

I can never write a story unless I know the locality. Do

you remember when I used to send you x " Memoirs of a

Warden " ? They would be a great deal more curious now

than they used to be then.

It is true that most of his tales were of localities he had
visited. Yet he had so rare a power of visualizing what he
read that it is doubtful whether such books as " Theodora
Phranza " and " The Egyptian Wanderers " are inferior in
their local colour, though he certainly had not visited
either Constantinople or Egypt. Apropos of this power, I
remember, when staying at Cambridge with my father and
1 These were sensational chapter-headings for a supposed novel,
relating the disturbances at the College, with imaginary critiques
appended.

DIRECTION 301

mother in 1861, we were asked to lunch in King's College
by George Williams, Oriental Scholar and traveller. In
the course of conversation he asked, "By the way, Neale,
when were you in Georgia ? " My father replied, " Never " ;
at which he expressed great surprise, remarking that he
thought from the descriptions in the " Lily of Tiflis " my
father must have been out there.

To B. W. Jan. i6th, 1858. S. C.

. . . About Direction. I quite hold what I always did Direction
— and what you hold : and would sign again what I wrote for Sisters-
in my " Church Difficulties." This is not only theory, but
practice — for I have several penitents living in the world-
some, fashionable people. But about Sisterhoods ; Direction
is a different matter. There, it is forced upon you. I
remember telling you this, some three years ago, as we
were walking through the Arch that stands opposite to
Hope's. You can scarcely refuse, in the morning, to help
a woman to the very utmost, when in the evening you may
have to send her to almost certain death. You know
something — and yet it is but little — of the hardships and
miseries our Sisters have to go through, hardships which,
if prettily described in the " Life of a Saint," would edify
everyone. I feel they have a right to ask for all the help
I can give them. I should like to hear what you think of
this. In the meantime their numbers increase ; and not
only them, but those of the Orphanage.

Gavin's MS. would have been invaluable, had not Daniel Literary
examined it first. But still, Daniel has left a good deal work-
unnoticed. ... I can make you a good paper from it.
" Utrecht " is all but out — I will take care you have it. I
am at work like a lion on the " Eastern Church " — it is quite
a refreshment after all these troubles. I give four hours
a day to it. The Sisterhood, services, sermons, etc., take
another four ; the College about one ; and I have about
five for other writing and letters. I am at work on an
article for the Christian Remembrancer on Collects.1 The
Gallicans in Paris, and I, are getting up quite a friendship —

P , Ducheldet, Tassy, Gudon, and the like.

1 Christian Remembrancer, xxxvi. 18-63.

302 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. March 9th, 1858. S. C.

I am glad you like the book of Utrecht. Our Galilean
friends are amazingly pleased with it.1 I heard from Gavin
de Tassy yesterday ; he sent me by accident two copies of
his book, and desired me to give away one. So I send it
to you. It is very singular, the likeness between a Kempis
and this Oriental mysticism.

To B. W. Sept. 4th, 1858. S. C.

Proposed I have been spending a day or two with the Bishop
Revision of of Oxford at Lavington, discussing with him his next
Lectionary. move jn Convocation — an altered Lectionary (such as I
recommended in the Ecclesiologist in those papers of mine).
He seems quite to have the same view as to the main
points ; and certainly if he can get such a thing, were it
only alternative, it would be a prodigious step.

I can't think why West was so civil. He and Rogers
have just presented a Memorial to Lord De la Warr against
me, for preaching to our people, because it is not in the
Statutes ! Rogers had previously, you know, asked the
Bishop to stop my preaching, and the Bishop declined. . . .
Just now I am at work on a paper for Christian
Remembrancer on Mediaeval Pastorals.2 The " Com
mentary on the Psalms " is just begun printing ; that and
" Antioch " keep me pretty hard at work. I will willingly
do the Day Hours. We began, as we had always intended,
to use them at S. Margaret's last Saturday. Virtually
we had used them before, so far as they go (for you
know they have no Matins). But these are much more
convenient than our own MS. translations, which also
involve every Sister's making a copy for herself when she
joined us. They use them at Clewer — I believe at Wantage
"Day- — my sister will do the same : and we. At Clewer, eleven ;
Hours ourselves, ten ; at S. George's, seven ; at Wantage, six.
Church of That makes thirty-four — a very good number to begin
England." with ; and this is the point to be pressed, that this should
Masters. |De ^ book for Sisterhoods. A very few things might be

1 See Ecclesiologist, xix. 157-166, after a visit in 1858 to Holland.

2 See " Essays on Liturgiology," 391-410.

BRITTANY 3°3

altered in the second edition, but it is admirably well done
on the whole.

To B. W. Nov. 1 5th, 1858. S. C.

. . . We begin another School to-day in connection The Red
with the Sisterhood, for girls, not orphans, that can be SchooL
saved out of such families as would pretty well secure
their ruin were they allowed to remain. From their dress,
they will be called the Red School ; it is an imitation
of the Red Maids at Bristol (no doubt originally Berna-
dines).

Do you know Le Geyt of S. Matthias ? He has been
here twice — I like him much.

In May, 1859, ^e went for a tour in Brittany with his
wife and eldest daughter and the daughter of a very dear
friend. At Le Mans he was fortunate in getting a valuable
collection of Sequences for the Ecclesiologist. At S. Pol
de Laon he picked up one of his tales for children — " The
Menhir of Lokmariaker." 1

To B. W. May 22nd, 1859. Brittany.

Having an occasion to send Parker, I may as well send
you a line. We left, as you know, on Wednesday nth,
sleeping a night at each place I mark with an asterisk.

Amiens.** Rennes.

Chartres.* Dinan.*

Le Mans.** S. Brieuc.**

Laval.* Paimpol.*
Vitre.*

You can conceive how I thought of the old time we Tour in
were together at Amiens. I have not stopped there since. Bnttany-
Chartres came up to my ideas, but it is not equal to
Bourges — Le Mans far beyond them. The Nave is
ordinary Romanesque, but the Choir is the most glorious
Middle-Pointed creation I ever saw. I wonder we have
not heard more of it, if it were only for its size, for it is
the largest church in France. In Brittany I have not seen
any very fine church, though several extremely curious
1 In " Tales on the Apostles' Creed."

304 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

ones, and as to being Catholic, Belgium is Protestant to
this country. Well, I have been lucky about Sequences ; I
think you might say in the next Ecclesiologist (mentioning
first the vote of £5) in a note, "We are glad to say that
the Editor of the Sequentiae Ineditae has obtained a valuable
collection, partlyfrom a MS. of the Benedictinehouse,B.V.M.,
de cultura Dei (Notre Dame de la Couture) at Le Mans,
partly from one belonging to the Oratory at Amiens, partly
from a very rare printed Missal of S. Brieuc (i484)."]

We get on to-night to Treguier — the see, you know, is
5. Brieuc and Trtguier. The Cathedral there, at S. Brieuc,
is curious Middle-Pointed, but very small. Our true Breton
churches have to come yet. We were stopped one day
by a bilious attack of Agnes at S. Brieuc, which has now,
thank GOD, quite gone off. I have thought so much of
our tour in France since I have been out this time. Besides
my wife and Agnes, we have a young lady with us, a
friend of A.'s — a daughter of that Dr. Ross who went back
in the cholera time to Madeira and died there.

To His SECOND DAUGHTER. May 28th, 1859.

MY DEAREST LITTLE MAY,

Letter to I wonder if I can write in this jolting carriage

a child. a letter which you will be able to read. We are going
out from Brest to what one might call the Land's End
of France ; but I am afraid we shall not see very much
of it, for it threatens rain. So now we are at the farthest
from you. Agnes is further from you than she has ever
been before, and we shall be so glad to get home to you
all. I have a little silver cross for you, which I bought
at Rennes. You and Ermy (and baby too, only baby
would have been rather frightened) would have liked to
see the Museum yesterday. There were a great many
stuffed beasts — a bear, a leopard, a great many monkeys,
an opossum with her young ones carried on her back,
and keeping themselves up by twisting their tails round
hers ; a large fish called a Sea Devil because it is so
frightfully ugly, flat, with a kind of horns that would be
1 See Ecclesiologist, xx. 255,297-301, and 361-366 ; and xxi. 13.

BRITTANY 305

about as large as the round table in the drawing-room ;
a lobster that would nearly reach from one end to the
other of the parlour mantelpiece ; and such a pretty garden,
that Miss Baker would have enjoyed most of all. We
have several times had strawberries, the first time, I think,
was last Sunday, and I saw them selling cherries in the
streets to-day. I do not know that they were very ripe.
The people here do not speak French, but Breton, which
is a kind of Welsh, and which was spoken in Cornwall
till 200 years ago. So if you ask them a question they
tell you that they cannot speak " Saxon," meaning French.

Now it is pouring, for which I am very sorry.

Although this is the wildest and most out of the way
part of France, the roads are as good as anything can be,
even when one comes to a paved bit in a small town, as
we are doing now, which is what makes my hand shake.

Here we are at Conquet. No — we are not.

Agnes told you how pretty it was to see biscuits made
in the Dockyard. After that we walked up to the place
where the artillery men learn to fire ; they shoot across an
arm of the sea at marks set up on a hill on the other side.
They were just going to begin, and I should very much
have liked to see them, but the others were rather afraid
of the noise.

You can't think how many wayside crosses there are Calvaries,
set up on the roads — some of stone, some of wood, some
with several figures of the three Maries and S. John, some
with only our Lord. We wanted yesterday to see one at
Plougastel which has forty great figures, but it was too
late, and the boatmen were afraid we should not be back
in time. The driver has just stopped to shew us on the Menhirs.
top of a hill at a distance a very tall menhir, one of those
stones which had something to do with the serpent-worship
which prevailed in this country before the time of our Lord.
The people at Ushant, close here, were the last idolaters
in Europe, worshipping idols down till 1700. There is an
idol standing on a common not far from Brest that was
also worshipped, with very wicked ceremonies, down to
that time. Sometimes these menhirs have now a cross put

3o6 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

on the top of them, as a sign that " the kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ."

I think we shall get back to you, all well, either on
Friday or Saturday before Whitsunday. They all want
to see Rouen very much, and it would be a pity to
miss it.

I am so very glad that Master Chapman has been able
to read prayers so well Tell him so, and that I am very
much obliged to him, and that it is a good service I can
never forget.

Now, I think I have written you a very long letter.
You may send us another letter, posting it the evening
you get this, and directing it to Poste Restante, Rouen,
Seine Inferieure.

All well, we shall cross from Dieppe to Newhaven, and
so come home straight from there by the Brighton line,
and very glad we shall be to have our pets again.

Now give my love to Er. and Baby and Miss Baker,
and remember me kindly to the servants and to all the
people, and especially to Master Chapman and Simonds,
and Mrs. Payne and Mrs. Alcock, and Miss Swaysland and
Mary Jenks.

God bless you, my pet.

Your very dear Papa,

J. M. NEALE.

An old " Master Chapman " was one of the old pensioners. I

pensioner. fear we did not share our father's gratitude, for the old
man read very slowly, sometimes stopping to spell a word,
and on one occasion was helped in a puzzling word in the
Psalms by one of the old women, who prompted him
audibly, " Pavilion, Master Chapman, pavilion ! "

During his short absences from home, the Warden
generally deputed one of the old brethren to read prayers
in Chapel. Master Everest, a better "scholar" than
Master Chapman, had often acted as chaplain, but he
died some time before this. He was a great friend of
us as children, had been a cricketer in his youth, and
in spite of much lameness, gave my brother his first lessons
in cricket. When the old man's turn came to go in, I

DEATH OF A PENSIONER 307

used to stand beside him and make his runs for him, he
being nearly eighty and I about four or five.

He was one whom we went to see in his coffin. Perhaps
children fifty years ago were taught more about death than
they are now. Be that as it may, my father taught us to
say a prayer for the departed soul, and in a few cases we
were taken to see the body. It could only have been when
death came as a friend, for my childish impression of the
faces I saw, aged though they were, was of their youth and
triumph.

CHAPTER XIX

1859-60

TALES — TOUR IN DALMATIA

FORWARD, when all seems lost, when the cause looks utterly

hopeless ;
FORWARD, when brave hearts fail, and to yield is the rede of the

coward ;

FORWARD, when friends fall off, and enemies gather around thee :
Thou, though alone with thy GOD, though alone in thy courage,

Go FORWARD !

THE letters at this time shew that in spite of his increas
ing work for the Sisterhood his literary output was not
diminished. In Parker's shilling series of " Tales illustrative
of Church History," in addition to those mentioned below,
he wrote "The Quay of the Dioscuri," a story of the
times of Arius, " Lucia's Marriage," " The Sea-Tigers,"
" Larache," " The Daughters of Pola," " Dores de Gualdim."
The one he speaks of as " The Aries Journal," published
under the title of " The Exiles of the Cebenna," is perhaps
one of the most interesting. It was written under the form
of a journal kept by " the priest Aurelius Gratianus," and
one of the reviews seriously found fault with it because it
seemed like a translation from a real original.

To J. H. July nth, 1859. S. C.

"Trans- I hope you will not mind my dedicating my Transla

tion of tion of the Liturgies to you ; if you do, there is still time
Primitive t hirKjer ft \ hope it will not be a bad book. Among

Liturgies. r .

Hayes. other things, it contains the words of Institution in every
known Liturgy. ... In Parker's series of Tales, the

TALES AND ARTICLES 309

"Aries Journal" and "Lily of Tiflis" are mine. He has
another in type, " The Lazar House of Leros," and I have
begun another, "The Fool's Chapel."1 But I stick to
"Antioch" daily.

To B. W. Nov. nth, 1859. S. C.

. . . The Ecclesiologist makes me sad too. You must
feel what perfect trash two-thirds of it is. Now see : either
you or I would write for it in a way that should clearly
put it at the head of all periodicals in its own way. For
example, I am now writing for the next Christian Remem
brancer an article on the Ambrosian Rite.2 It is not
vanity to say that no one in England, and only three men
in Europe, could write such an one. What will be the
effect ? Why, all but about ten readers will skip it entirely
— perhaps not cut the pages. From those ten I shall have
enthusiastic letters in its praise, and so I shall from
Germany. It so far does the X. R. good, that it will keep
up its character for learning. If it did not, Scott would not
be justified in paying me for such articles.3 I can assure
you, the eulogies I had from Russian Scholars for my
article on Greek Hymnologists were really amusing.
Well, the proper place for these is in the Ecclesiologist.
There they would tell ; there they would be valued ; they
would raise you up ; and not only so, but would be thought
interesting. Well, I can't afford to write them for nothing ; Cannot
you offer nothing, therefore I am forced to write for that ^°tredfo°
which does offer. What do I get? Why, some £12. I nothing i
look in your Treasurer's Account, and see how easily, say
twice a year, such a payment could be afforded ; and it g*
does make me sad to see the money frittered away, those
obliged to work for others who would so gladly work for
you, and the Ecclesiologist gradually sinking. To me, of
course, it could be of no advantage to receive money from
you rather than from Scott ; therefore there is nothing
greedy in what I am saying. Don't think this letter
unkind ; it is not so meant, I assure you.

1 I do not think this was ever published.
* Christian Remembrancer, xxxix. 135-165.
8 Ibid., xxxvii. 280-316, and xxxviii. 428-456.

310 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. Nov. 24th, 1859. S. C.

Respecting I do not want to vex you ; and I do not know who wrote

s°Geaor e's the article on S- George's in the Ecclesiologist. But this

in-the- I know, that, if it appears, I must leave you. Whether, if

East. i Were in Bryan King's place, I could have acted as he has

done, is a different question ; but I can at least admire

courage that I have not, or may not have, myself. Your

article comes simply to this : let us give the people as

much Ecclesiology as they will bear without howling. Had

we said that twenty years ago, there would have been none

in England now. I hope, however, you will omit this

paper. Do not attempt to alter it, because that would only

give you trouble, and me no satisfaction.

To B. W. Vigil of S. Andrew (Nov. 29th), 1859. S. C.

... I wish it had so been ordered that we had lived at
a come-at-able distance. We should not then, I honestly
believe it, have diverged from each other. But I never see
the use of pretending to think we have not, when we know
we have. The first thing that shewed me this was Hope's
letter, and you think it tolerably defensible. You must
know that, were that letter, and other letters he has written
regarding All Saints, printed side by side and exposed to
the world, he must be sent to Coventry. You know me
well enough to be sure that the world's liking or disliking
a man has no influence on my opinion. But still, this I
see : that Hope is going down very far and very fast in the
opinions of those whom he once would have most valued.
And that he should tolerate such a man as Cook, himself
so sunk, is very sad. As to Bryan King, I don't justify
him. Why ? Because I don't think he was working hard
enough, or doing a man's ordinary duties to his parish
sufficiently well to allow of it being permissible to him to
raise a tumult. Perhaps also this. If it had come to an
Ecclesiastical suit, the Vestments must have been pro
nounced legal ; and this might have provoked an Act of
Parliament against them. I can see that the possibility
of that might have been alleged as a reason against his

TOUR IN DALMATIA 311

attempt. But the arguments of the writer of that paper I
cannot bear to think of. ... Now, do not think that I
am going to be less interested about you — or you, I hope,

about me — because at present it is a case of K ; if we

ever see more of each other, and we are not so old but
that we may spend twenty years yet banding together, it
will then be <T> , or not far short.

To B. W. Feb. 26th, 1860. S. C.

All well, almost immediately after Easter, I hope to go Proposed
into Dalmatia. You will easily see how infinitely valuable tour ir
to me a tour in that country would be, with its

Pure Slavonic

Latin-Slavonic

Latin pure Churches.

Latin Glagolita

I shall have good introductions, both to Greek and Latin,
and hope to spend a day or two with the Vladika of Monte
negro. I may return by Venice and Milan ; but politics
must decide that. I go, all well, by Vienna and Trieste ;
and hope to see Aquileia. I do wish I could have a good
talk with you. You don't know how interested I have
been in the "Additional Services" and "29th Canon."
I wish you could see my glorious Icons. One, of the Bishop of
TRINITY under the shape of the three Angels appearing Oxford on
to Abraham — it is, you know, from the Troitzkoi- ^^
Sergievsky Monastery — is the most highly finished thing Reasons
I ever saw. The Archimandrite sent a very pretty for its
Madonna to our Mother. I had no idea till now lately how ^on°^a
big a man I was in Russia. I have the censures of the Masters.
Central Committee on my " Introduction," previous to its l86° and
translation. They are very amusing. You might have
seen in Parker's series of Church Stories, a little one of
mine called "The Lily of Tiflis"; it is, in fact, the Martyr
dom of S. Susanna under Marnam. Well, it has been
translated into Russ. ; and has been a perfect hit.

312 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. March 2nd, 1860. S. C.

Church As to the Dalmatian tour, Oldknow, my companion

tour in jn Portugal, is, all well, to be so again. I think to

Dalmatia. . *•* «.

run down to Berlin without a stopping — and merely to
sleep a night at Prague — which I have seen. We shall
begin ecclesiologizing, all well, at Briinn, and do a few
Moravian Churches, before we get to Vienna. I fancy no
country in Europe could teach me more than Dalmatia. I
hope to send you some Icons, if you care for them, before
long. Of Dalmatia I must make a book if I can ; if I
cannot, then (you will say no great thanks) you shall have
my notes for Ecclesiologist^ Through Gladstone I hope to
get a special recommendation from the Austrian Am
bassador formally written ; I had one in Portugal, which was
of the greatest use.

To B. W. March 28th, 1860. S. C.

I can see no objection to my sending the Ecclesiologist
any very remarkable church which I may afterwards insert
in my tour. You did so in your book. I have been
studying that book diligently. And how it makes me
wish that you had been able to carry out that study,
instead of sticking to Sheen ! How much you would have
done, that now no one can do ! As to ritual Ecclesiology,
I believe that I am your equal ; but as to aesthetic, no one
ever was nor ever could be. That book makes me mad
when I read it, that it should not have had — I will not say
greater — but more popular success. How I wish you were
going this tour with me.

Here follow details and dates of arrangements.

To B. W. April I3th, 1860. S. C.

I have been wanting to thank you ever since Christian
Remembrancer came out, for your article,2 which I thought
a very good, and felt to be a very kind, one. I did not
know that you knew so much about Hebrew. All one's

1 See Ecclesiologis^ xxii. 289-296.

2 Christian Remembrancer, xxxix. 479-491.

ACROSS FRANCE 313

friends seem much pleased with it. Don't you think that

a very curious discovery about " which eye hath not seen ? " l T cor. ii. 9.

April i6th, 1860. S. C.

I told you, I think, that through Gladstone I got a
recommendation from the "British Government" to the
Austrian Ambassador, and, in consequence, take a great
folio of official recommendation with me to all Heads of
Religious Houses, Cathedrals, Libraries, etc. This tour
will cost something. Between us we muster £120. But
I shall get some back.

The following diary-letter was written home during his
tour in Dalmatia. In a few places a paragraph from his
book is added to make the narrative continuous.

To His WIFE. April i8th, 1860. Strasburg Railway.

. . . Here we are at Chalons-sur-Marne, where we wait
a minute. This railroad is singularly beautiful. I have
been vastly pleased with the quick succession of moun
tains, crossings of the Marne, and downs covered with the
vineyards of Champagne. At Epernay, where the train
stopped for refreshment, it seemed odd to have sparkling
champagne — and very fair too — as vin ordinaire. We
have still a long way to Toul ; but it is no great hardship
in such lovely scenery. . . . Now we are off again ! and I
will tell Babes a story which will please her.

In a town called Nancy, my Babes, on this line — a very Letter to
good town it is — there is a square called Masco Square. his
And why, do you think ? Because, about a hundred and
forty years ago, the Duke had a great bear called Masco,
which was kept tied in a little brick house, looking on to
this square. Well, many people were very much afraid
of him ; but one winter's night, when the snow was on the
ground, a poor little Savoyard boy, who had no place to
sleep in, said, " I will go and lie down in Masco's den, or

1 See Essay on " Liturgical Quotations," reprinted in " Essays on
Liturgiology." Saunders and Otley.

314 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

I shall die of cold ; and I believe he will not hurt me."
This good, kind bear took the poor little boy in his arms,
and kept him warm all night. Next night he came again,
and Masco had kept some supper for him ! This happened
for some days, till one of the Duke's servants found it out.
The Duke was so pleased that he resolved himself to
bring up the little boy, and would have done so but that
the child died a little while after. And soon after, poor
Masco died of grief too. Was not that a kind bear ?

So much for Babes. — The village Churches here lie
pretty thickly, and seem of excellent Romanesque. I wish,
in one sense, that we were walking. I expect a great treat
at Toul though, and will, all well, finish this letter there.

Toul, 8.30.

We have had a most pleasant evening. A certain
Abbe Forbad took us over the Cathedral, and shewed us
their great relic, the Sacred Nail, which is authentically
traceable to the time of Constantine. He made an appoint-
Se°uences ment w^^ me to COPV Sequences at seven a.m., all well,
to-morrow. Then up to S. Gengault, also a very grand
Church, with lovely cloisters. . . .

April 22nd. Duchy of Baden Railway.

I wrote to you from Toul. Next morning, when I
woke, behold, it was snowing! and occasional showers
we have had ever since. We got to Metz about one : a
marvellous Cathedral, but fearfully blocked up with houses
all round. One or two other Churches we saw, and a
Hospital under the charge of Sisters of Charity. On
Friday morning, I was for some hours copying Sequences
for the Ecclesiologist, at my great ease. In the afternoon,
on to Strasburg. There is nothing remarkable in the
scenery till you reach the two-mile tunnel which pierces
the Vosges mountains. After that, it is glorious indeed :
curving round wooded hills, dashing under rocks that

AT STRASBURG 3*5

seem rolling down from above, hurrying over wild, narrow

heaths, where the wolves prowl every night, or giving you

a glimpse of some lonely forge or miner's cot. It was

quite dark when we got in, and had very comfortable

rooms at La Fleur. Saturday morning, snow again. We

took a little voiture, and saw nine Churches, most of

them very curious, especially for the monuments. I never

learned so much from any monuments. The city Churches

are divided equally between Catholics and Protestants :

two being, indeed, absolutely halved between them, and,

as I judge, with the worst effect on both sides. At one A Lutheran

Lutheran place we saw a marriage. The minister, in weddms-

gown and ruff, standing behind the Altar (on the East

side of its little Crucifix), just like a figure of Luther ; the

Bible open before him ; the bride and bridegroom sitting

on two chairs within the Altar rails, their friends sitting

just outside; she, rather pretty, but dressed in black silk,

though with colours. He preached with great emphasis,

" And how can a woman become a curse to her husband ? "

By so-and-so and so-and-so ; " Yes, and let me say it,

by crinoline ! " So he went on. Well, the nave of the

Cathedral is entirely filled with stained glass (not all

ancient) ; but the central part and choir, which are Norman,

are very poor, the East end especially. The West front

no words can express ; and the hue of the stone, dark

reddish, is so lovely. You know how I had wished to

go up to the top of the spire: to my mortification the

Mayor had just given orders to close the place for two

months, because people had been playing pranks up there.

I went to the architect : got a letter of recommendation ;

then to the Mayor, and got a special order ; and up we

went. When we reached the platform, i.e. what would

have been the base of a second Western spire, there we Goes up

found the Verger's house, built on the outside ; the space the sPire of

round being so large as to look like a large paved yard,

the great spire rising from it. Fancy bringing up a family

of children three hundred feet above the street ! Here

began the difficulty of the ascent : because the staircases

get narrower and narrower, till at last you pull yourself

3i6 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

through by main force. Then comes one dreadful step
outside, hanging over the void below ; and you are at the
top of the highest building in the world. The coming
down is not easy. In the evening, we came on to Kehl,
crossing the Rhine, and, of course, having another search
when we entered his Grand Dukeship's domain.

Hence, through snowstorms and bitter East wind; we
made our way, by Karlsruhe and Bruchsal, to Stuttgart.
Here we were most kindly received by His Excellency
C. T. R. Gordon, Ambassador at the Court of Wtirtem-
berg, and one of the first ecclesiologists of our day.

To His WIFE.

Next morning — the weather still bitterly cold — we
went by railway to Esslingen, a pretty little country town
in Wiirtemberg, where we " took " four Churches. One of
them, which has two towers, has them joined in that odd
fashion of bridges thrown across from one to the other.
This really was a very beautiful place, with old fortifica
tions, lovely mill-stream, and chestnuts and willows to
Ulm- shadow it over. On in the afternoon to Ulm. The
Cathedral, though only the [size ?] of a Parish Church,
surpassed all my expectations. It is Lutheran, but ad
mirably preserved : a Sacraments- Haus ninety feet high,
and stalls as learned as beautiful.

Ratisbon.

. . . We got in about 3.30, and discovered, to my
great joy, that the railway has been opened some way
East within the last week. So we shall see no more of
the Danube, and I am not sorry for it ; for, though there
is one splendid burst of the river through a granite
precipice, for the most part it was very tame. We first
went to a little Chapel of S. Salvador, famous for a
miraculous image, and then to the Cathedral. I had
heard so much of this, that I was a good deal disap
pointed, though it is a fine Church too ; I can only put

RATISBON AND PASSAU 317

it in the third class, and there not at the top. The present
Bishop is going to complete the towers, left unfinished.
After this, we went to the Town Hall, and, after going
through some of the upper rooms, with their usual portraits
of local worthies, we went into the celebrated Torture
Chamber: the only one perfect in Europe. It is about
twelve steps down : to the right, a most horrid dungeon,
with a lower dungeon to that, into which the prisoner was
let down : to the right, the chamber thus : [the description
is too horrible to transcribe]. We felt quite faint and
sick when we came out to the daylight. Then to the
Scotch Convent, founded by fugitives from Macbeth, and Scotch
a great part of it of his date. There are only five ecclesi- Convent-
astics. They have a fine library, but no catalogue, and
could not even tell whether they had any MS. Missal or
not ! at least, the young Scotchman who acted as guide
could not. They were civil enough in letting me look ;
but in vain. Then we went to S. Emmeram's, one of the
largest Monasteries, with a most singular double Church,
a Siamese twin of a Church. Here is an exquisite shrine,
four feet long, of S. Emmeram, in silver, and of the I3th
century. Two other Churches we also saw, and we have
still a harvest for to-morrow. Is not Ratisbon a splendid
city for ecclesiologists ? . . .

Passau.

. . . Passau is very strikingly situated at the junction of
the Inn and the Danube. On the opposite side of the latter
is a bold, bluff-wooded promontory ; and, winding round
it, the Inn, which also falls into the Danube here. The
Cathedral is not much, the nave having been burnt and
rebuilt a hundred and eighty years ago ; nor is there one
old Church in the place. The once Conventual Church of
S. Paul, all stucco and gilding, is of Cathedral size, with
some remains of the cloisters. At S. Michael's we heard
the Stations read, not on the monotone, but just as it might
be in England. The chief devotion here is to our Lady of
Help, " Maria Hilf "— they sell little pictures of her Church,
high on a hill above the city : it is a famous pilgrimage. . . .

318 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Lambach.

First through a lovely valley, starred with cowslips, to
the Church of Baura. This stands on a high bit of table
land, that almost overhangs the town ; a most pleasant
situation ; the green river foaming beneath ; wooded banks
on its other side. Look up the stream, and the Benedic
tine Monastery crowns the opposite height ; look south,
and you have the chain of purple mountains, snow-striped
and speckled, great Traunstein towering above the rest.
Baura is dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, and was built in
Atri- I755- It is triangular; has three doors, three windows,
Church tnree sacristies, three organs, and is built of three sorts
of Sicilian marble, and cost 333,333 florins. Over the first
entrance I read, " Deum Patrem Creatorem Mundi, venite
adoremus " ; opposite, in a wretched transparency behind
the Altar, is a very offensive picture of The FATHER.
Over the second door, " Deum Filium Redemptorem Mundi,
venite adoremus " ; and opposite, our LORD'S Descent from
the Cross. Over the third, " Deum Sanctum Spiritum,
venite adoremus " ; and opposite, the Nativity ; I suppose as
brought to pass by the operation of the HOLY GHOST.
Monastery From Baura we walked back to the Monastery at
bached Lambach: it consists of two or three quadrangles, with
Library, lines of whitewashed, square-headed windows, some two
hundred years old. But the foundation is of the eleventh
century ; and there it is in life. We were shewn into the
Church by a servant ; there is nothing whatever in it.
I ask for the library ; it is not to be seen. I send in my
recommendation ; out comes the Librarian, one of the
Fathers, a very pleasing man, rather tall and stout, about
fifty. He took us over it ; it has 14,000 volumes ; manu
scripts of great value, and an almost priceless collection
"incuna- of Ecclesiastical Incunabula. What are Incunabula? you
ask. It is the name that Germans give to books printed
before 1500. I found some pretty little manuscript Brevi
aries ; but manuscript Missals there were none. At last I
got two early printed ones, Augsburg and Freisingen ; and,
finding some Sequences not yet reprinted, asked if I

MONASTERY AT LAMBACH 319

might have them to copy at the inn. This could not be
done unless application was made to the " Prelate." They
had just finished supper : it was nearly seven : we were
shewn into the little refectory. The Abbot was a very
striking man, I imagine about forty, by far the most intel
lectual-looking of the whole set ; only to be distinguished
from the rest by a gold pectoral Cross. " Certainly we
should have the books ; was there anything else he could
do for us ? " " Might we attend Compline and Matins ? "
"What were we?" "Priests of the English Church."
" Surely, why not ? " Then he sent for some wine of the
Monastery's own growth, and we and the Fathers had each
a tumbler. Before we had finished, the bell for Compline
rang. The little hours were said, not in the Church, but in
a small oratory. At its East end is no Altar, but a Cross.
The stalls, which have misereres, are not returned, and
there is a kind of ante- Chapel. The Abbot sat in the
westernmost stall of the North side, and gave me, as the
post of honour, the place on his left hand. Opposite to
him was the Prior. Service began by a German lection, a
translation of S. Bernard, by the Prior. In about ten
minutes the Abbot rang a little bell, and the reader
stopped. Then began the ordinary Compline Service.
That ended, except the last benediction, a Probationer read Compline
in German a prayer, asking forgiveness for that day's sins. and

. . ,-,. . Matins.

and a resolution to sm no more. This resolution was
repeated by the Fathers in common. Then the Abbot
said, also in German : " Remember that, as you are now
about to lie down in your beds, so some day you shall lie
down in your graves. Remember that, as you for your
selves close your eyes in sleep, so some day they must be
closed for you in death. Remember that, as you cover
yourselves with your bed-clothes, so some day you will be
wrapped in the shroud." Then he gave the benediction,
sprinkled the others with holy water, but gave it to us
to take for ourselves. The Service, I ought to say, was on
the monotone, except the hymn and the antiphon and the
Nunc Dimittis, but very striking from the depth of voices.
There are about five and twenty Fathers and brethren.

320 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Back to the inn ; coffee : then I sat up late writing out
the Sequences. At 3.30, very unwillingly, I confess, up
again ; and I was soon knocking at the gate of the quad
rangle. I had my old place by the Abbot. Matins began
at 4.0, were over about 5.10 ; they were simply Benedictine,
without any local peculiarity. Psalms said on the mono
tone ; Antiphons, etc., sung. And then I went to bed for
three hours more, with sufficient satisfaction.

Roitham.

Here we left our vehicle, and scrambled downhill to
the Traunsfall. It is partly spoilt by the river having
been, to a certain degree, canalized for a mill ; but still
a very grand sight. The deep green of the water ; a kind
The .of purple haze on the outside of the spray ; the thunder of
Traunsfall. the fall, pent in, and echoed by the steep banks. The fall
somewhat resembles a capital E : the mill stands at the
lower end, and the best view is from one of the out-houses,
which actually overhangs the stream. I suppose the height
to be thirty feet ; the breadth of the river, eighty yards ;
depth of water, seven or eight feet. Hence, it is by far the
most magnificent cascade I ever saw, and it gave one such
great, quiet, peaceful thoughts ; made one (I know not
why) think more of GOD'S love than His power. I leant
over the thunder of the water for some twenty minutes ;
the spray-rainbow sometimes arching above my head ;
and thought how utterly untrue those lines of Byron's are
about —

" The hell of waters ! where they howl and hiss,
And boil in endless torture : where the sweat
Of their great agony is wrung from this
Their Phlegethon,"—

Symbol- and how much more naturally one's thoughts dwell on the
ism. "voice of many waters round the throne," of which this,

the " Alleluiatic Sequence," of the earthly river, is the faint
type. On again : to Laakirchen. Here the schoolmaster
brought in a school to say their mid-day prayers in Church.
" They may kiss your hand, may they not ? " said he. So

TOUR IN AUSTRIA 321

the little mites, forty or fifty in number, had that honour,
and passed on, as I made the sign of the Cross over each,
with great content. Pretty children they were too. You
know the beauty of the girls and women of this part of
Austria is proverbial.

To His WIFE. Briick an den Meer, Styria.

I wrote to you last on the Traun See, the most glorious
lake I ever saw — too glorious : I did so long for you : it is
a place to make you cry with joy. We got to Ebensee,
sent on our luggage by a little cart, and walked ourselves,
twelve miles, through splendid scenery, by the Traun
always, to Ischl. Next morning I was persuaded to take
a one-horse conveyance, — and we were four hours and a
half doing sixteen miles ! Then we arrived at Aussee, the
capital of the Styrian Salzkammergut : the mountain about
seven thousand feet high. Thence we posted — two posts
—to Steinach, a small village in the mountains, where we
slept. Yesterday morning we started at eight, intending, if
possible, to get to the railway. We did the first part well ;
then, at Mitterndorf: "No horses." "When will there
be ? " " No saying." I was in despair, and went about the
village, looking for a chaise. At last I found a man who
had a carriage, and hired it for three posts (seven Austrian
miles : thirty-one and a half English miles). I told the
driver that I would pay as he went ; and he went admir
ably, never stopping except to see Churches, and to give
the horses bread and wine once. We got to Leoben at
7.30. To-day we saw the Churches, and then came on
in a carriage here. . . . Styria is the most primitively
Catholic country I ever saw : every bridge has S. John of Styria.
Nepomuc upon it ; many houses have religious paintings
on the outside ; and in the churchyards they pray as in
Brittany. And the most curious thing is, that every child,
and many women, and some men I meet, seeing me to be
a Priest, insist on kissing my hand : in taking a Church,
the interruption is quite troublesome. But they are the
most simple-hearted, contented people ; saluting you with,

322 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

" Blessed be JESUS CHRIST for evermore," and you an
swer, " He is, and will be," or else, " And the Ever- Virgin
Mary." I see this increase as we go on ; and this, notwith
standing the Protestant villages scattered here and there in
the mountains, which derive their Protestantism, not from
Luther, but from the old Albigenses, and are in fact
Manichaean ; the descendants of the Turlupins, Good-men,
Bogomili, and the like, in the twelfth century. The trout
here are most admirable : kept in tanks, through which the
river runs, fed with bullock's liver, pulled out with a ladle
from the tank, and cast into boiling vinegar — blaugesotten
(blue-seethed), because their coats are so beautifully blue.
Their flesh is like the white of an egg. Bears abound in
the woods, also wolves and jackals.

May 5th. Trieste Railway.

. . . We are only about five hours from Trieste ; — and
in one day have come out of vegetation no forwarder than
it was in England when we left, to full spring. The change
seems magical. Last night, at Marburg, the leaves were
but half out ; now, south of Laybach, the mountains are
clothed with living verdure up to the very summit. I

Gratz wrote to you from Gratz : I was very civilly treated at the
University, when I shewed my credentials, and also at the
Franciscan Convent, where they have a good library of
forty thousand volumes.

From « Great as has been the kindness I have always received

in foreign libraries, that which I here experienced sur
passed them all. * Name your own time, Sir/ said the
First Librarian, ' for to-morrow, and I will give you two
clever undergraduates to wait on you, and to bring you
what books you want.' I spent nearly a day in that
cinquecento room, and the heartiness with which the young
men threw themselves into my pursuits, and the courtesy
with which they seemed rather to be receiving than bestow
ing a favour, I shall never forget. The library contains
42,000 volumes (of which 3500 are Incunabula) and
7500 MSS."

STYR1A 323

To His WIFE.

The Cathedral [at Gratz] was very well. I also saw the
Ursuline Convent ; the first time I ever spoke to any
Sisters of that Order. Also to the Brothers of Compassion ;
it is an establishment precisely like an institution of Sisters
of Charity ; and, though everything was clean and well
kept up, I could not but think how much better women
manage these things than men. There is one Priest, whose
acquaintance we made, who is also Prior ; and twenty-
three brethren. At night we came on to Marburg, a dull styria
little town, still in Styria : at seven this morning to the beautiful

scenery*

Churches, and at eight started by railway again. But I
can give you no idea of the extraordinary beauty of this
railway. It principally follows the valley of the Save ; and
the ridges of Julian and Noric Alps, — on which I now
look off from my paper, — covered with perpetual snow, are
too glorious. Then again we dash through a narrow pass :
pines and limes and oak and may, clothing the mountains
to the top. I marvel that this is not the ordinary tour of
Englishmen. However, my great delight now is to look
forward to hearing from you to-night. . . . We were so
anxious to spend a quiet Sunday at Trieste, and to get the
letters, that we shall now push by Adelsberg, and return to
it perhaps on Monday. You may judge how this line
turns. I began this note by the right side window of the
carriage ; the sun shone fiercely in, and drove me to the
left : now it shines in on the left, and I go back. . . .

An hour or so after I had written what went before, The
after traversing very slowly that fearfully bleak limestone Adriatic.
rock, the Karst, all of a sudden, through a deep cutting,
we came out as by magic on the blue, calm Adriatic. To
the right, — glorious in the sunset, the low lines of Aquileia
and Venice ; to the left, jutting boldly out into the sea,
the Istrian hills, and Trieste, on its tongue of land run
ning out into the sea : one of the most striking sights I
ever saw — only it made me feel so fearfully far from
home, .

324

LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

Prince
Daniel.

A council
of war.

To HIS WIFE.

May 24th. Steamer Bosforo^ between Sebenico and Zara.

So, you see, our faces are fairly turned homewards, and
thank GOD for it. On Sunday, at nine, we went to the
Slavonic Church : then to coffee : then our party formed
outside the town. Our own three horses, the sumpter-
horse, and four men. The first hour, a series of zig-zags,
like Madeira country roads, up the mountains : then it got
too bad to ride with these horses, and we had to scramble,
and that in a tremendous rain. In the wildest gorge, the
Prince's adjutant met us. By degrees we had such a wild
tail, with their rifles, daggers, enormous pipes, and quaint
slashed bright dresses. It was seven hours to Cettigne:
rain most of the way. The town stands in a little plain,
surrounded on all sides with mountains. Here, the first
thing we saw was a crowd of people, surrounding a man,
alone covered, addressing them. This was the Prince : it
was a council of war. At the end, the oldest peasant said,
" O Vladika, let it be as thou wilt ! " and they then moved
to another place. We sent our introduction to the Prince,
and followed it at a little distance. Presently came the High
Marshal, in a most gorgeous red and green dress, to bring
us to the Prince. He was with the senators (yeomen)
and the heads of his army, about to overlook the games.
He speaks French fluently, — wears bagging green trousers,
like a Dutchman : a waistcoat, crimson, and passmented
with silver, a jacket, green, lined with crimson and slashed,
and a green cap, set with jewels. He spoke very politely,
asked me to honour them by seeing the games, and set me
by him.

Oldknow was by the High Marshal. There were
various athletic exercises, principally leaping, till dusk.
He then said that a room was ready for us, and that we
should see him next day. We went to the house, and had
there a present of white bread, a lamb ragout and potatoes ;
and ices. At night, the High Marshal paid us a visit.
After we were in bed, came on the most awful storm of
thunder and lightning, and hail, that I ever saw. Next

TOUR IN DALMATIA 325

day, to the Church, where we saw the shrine of S. Peter,
the last Vladika but one ; he died in 1830, and was
immediately canonized. Then the arsenal, with weapons
taken from the Turks. Then the state rooms of the palace.
After this we called on an English lady, lady-in-waiting to
the Princess. She spoke most enthusiastically of them.
She is admirably up in the history of the place. . . . We
returned to Cattaro in seven hours. The steamer had
come in ; we secured places, and at dusk on Monday went
on board. From Ragusa, on Tuesday, I went into Turkey,
actually, and saw a mosque at a place called Bertano. . . .
We hope to be in Zara at 5.30 this evening, and to find
letters. There we stay till twelve to-morrow, and then
straight for Trieste. We have resolved to be back, all
well, for Trinity Sunday. I am so very rejoiced.

To B. W. June 5th, 1860. S. C.

I returned on Saturday. This was our tour — its sleep
ing places, I mean : Paris, Toul, Metz, Strasburg, Kehl,
Stuttgart, Esslingen, Ulm, Donauworth, Ratisbon, Passau,
Vilshofen, Linz, Lambach, Ischl, Rottenmann in Styria,
Gratz, Marburg, Trieste, Trieste, Aquileia, Trieste, Tirano
in Istria, Parenzo, Pola, Trieste, Trieste, Cherso in Cherso,
Veglia in Veglia, Bescavecchia in Veglia, Lussingrande in
Ossero, Lussinpiccolo in Ossero, Zara, Curzola in Curzola,
Sebenico, Spalato, Ragusa, Cattaro, Tsettinge in Monte
negro, Cattaro, Bertano in Albania, Lessina in Lessina,
Milna in Brazza, Abenco, Zara, Trieste, Venice, Milan,
Turin, Susa, Macon, home via Calais : forty-seven days
out. I saw one hundred and seventy-five Churches.
The Basilica of Parenzo is the best ; next, Pola, Zara,
Curzola, Cattaro, Lessina, Cathedrals. Veglia is hardly
ever visited, even from Trieste : the Consul was once
there, shooting. You know, or may not know, that in
every parish in the island the rite is Glagolita (except the Qla oliu_
Cathedral). The Bishop of Sebenico gave me some valu- rite.
able Glagolita books : the Greek Bishop of Zara some
valuable Sebenico ones. The oddest thing was the
Council of War in Montenegro, at which I was present —

326

LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

in the open air — and then the games — quite Homeric. I
stood by the Prince, who gave the prizes. Montenegro
was quite a new world. It is so curious to see an intensely
Catholic population yet spitting at the Latin and having,
as the usual name from Roman Catholics, men of the dogs
faith. I am used enough to mountains, but the difficulties
of these, spite of our guard, were almost incredible.

In " Notes on Dalmatia," he says, " I little thought, as
I listened to him, Prince Daniel, then, so full of life and
strength, discussing with the brightest anticipations the
future fortunes of his little State, that in a few months he
would be lying in a bloody grave ; and in a few more,
hostilities on a more threatening scale than ever would
have burst out between his people and their perpetual
oppressors." He was shot by an assassin at Cattaro in
August, 1860.

a H.

Palmer.

Works at
Syriac
with bis
daughter.

To B. W. Oct. 2oth, 1860. S. C.

. . . Palmer, our old friend the printer, has a son with,
what they say, is a very remarkable musical turn, and
is my wife's godson, and he was anxious to get him into
the College. I fear he is too old to be received. My wife
interested herself in the matter. Yes, Vincent is going on
very well, thank GOD, and happier than he has ever been
before. May and I work hard at Syriac daily. It would
have amused you to have seen, at breakfast this morning,
her eagerness and joy at the arrival of Bernstein's new
lexicon — which I have for some time promised her. She is
only twelve, you know. The second volume of the Psalms
is begun printing. Parker dawdles sadly about the Dal
matian book— it ought to be out — and I have not had a
proof. I had asked G. Williams to get for me the Russian
Liturgy of the Staro-Viertze, which retained, you know, all
the mumpsimuses1 that course of years had introduced.
After vainly trying elsewhere, he asked Philaret of Moscow

1 Miimpsimuses. This word, which may puzzle some readers, as
it did myself, is explained as " a humorous term signifying a stupid or
ignorant blunder."

PHILARET OF MOSCOW 327

where he could procure one. His Holiness sent into his present
library, gave him one for me, wrote my name in it, — and from
this : " GOD'S blessing and help to them who investigate
the truth in the ancient books and traditions of the Church
for the peace and ultimate Union of the Churches of GOD.
Phil. M, Moscow. July I3th, 1860." It is a very handsome
book indeed.

For his writings on the Psalms and Liturgies, my
father had need of various Oriental languages, and thinking
to make his two eldest daughters of use in reading to
him, he gave one of us a Georgian, the other a Syriac,
alphabet to learn. Unlike Milton, however, when he
found how pleased we were with this task, he allowed us
to study the languages with him.

CHAPTER XX

i 860-6 i

REMOVAL OF INHIBITION — TOUR IN FRANCE —
CATECHIZING

England of Saints ! the peace will dawn, — but not without the fight ;
So, come the contest when it may, — and GOD defend the right !

THE Bishop of Chichester in this year formally withdrew
his inhibition ; virtually he had done so three years before.
In a letter to his old friend and tutor, the Rev. W. Russell,
J. M. Neale writes, "So, I hope, ends a battle of more
than sixteen years, I having neither withdrawn a single
word, nor altered a single practice (except in a few
instances by way of going further)."

To B. W. Nov. 2nd, 1860. S. C.

Thank you for your letter ; I will answer it directly.
But first let me tell you that our Bishop has withdrawn my
suspension. So, after nearly fourteen years' battle, he gives
way. You can't think how odd this feels. It came to pass
thus: a servant of ours was about to marry, and set her
mind on my performing the service. Rather against my
will, but to please her, I wrote to the Bishop, asking for
leave for that, and adding, that I could not ask for that,
inhibition and not mention the inhibition, without seeming to be
withdrawn, careless about the latter ; that now I asked him for the
last time ; that it must some day be at an end, either by
my or his death. To-day I had a most gracious answer.

Next as to Bell. I happened to mention to him lately
my plan about the Panliturgicon, and how impossible it

PROPOSED PANLITURGICON 329

was that it ever could be carried out, unless by a sub
scription, and indeed almost royal patronage. He thought
it might be done, and I should not wonder if it were.
The money is not for me, but for the books, and for the
various editions. I only want not to be at expense.
You know the idea — every Liturgy of the Church, or of Arrange-
Apostolical though heretical Communion, in the original, ™^cf^
with Latin translation. Living Liturgies to have all the Of every
ritual of the ecclesiastical year. I to be the general editor. Liturgy.
The languages thus —

Armenian

Georgian Brossal.

Slavonian Popoff.

Syrian Badger.

Coptic Wycliffe Goodwin.

Greek Neale.

f Roman ^ ,-, ,

Latin 1^ lr .... Forbes.

I Galilean J

Mozarabic Neale.

Now, granting there were decent pay, would you take the
Latin ? Of course, Gregorian, Gelasian, modern Latin, etc.
Those italicized are only thought of; the others promised.
I am sure of the Tsar. We must also get Austria, Napo
leon, and Spain. You know this would be a /crfjjua Ic aft,
and very honourable for the English Church. I hope —
I earnestly hope — I do not overrate my own powers ; but
yet I think I could be the general editor, and I know no
one — I know of no one but yourself — who could ; e.g. I
know how infinitely inferior I am to you in all ritual
matters connected with Art ; but then, you would be quite
at sea in Armenian and Georgian Liturgies, etc. I think
I have a general knowledge which would be useful in such
a work. I will send you a prospectus as soon as I get one.
Only understand I am paid no more than anyone else who
works ; we share as the work will allow.

Thank you about Gladstone. I will send him my book, "Voices
" Voices from the East." |°™ 'he

Let me hear about Panliturgicon. Masters.

330 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

To B. W. March 2nd, 1861. S. C.

Our long friendship — now, I think, reaching to two and
twenty years — would be a name and a shame, if we might
not tell our thoughts plainly to each other. Mine I am
about to tell you plainly ; yours I will always, please GOD,
if as plainly spoken, receive as kindly as they are meant.
Often before I have grieved that you would be connected
with a periodical like the Saturday Review. Many and
many a time to me to agree with what it has said would
be to give up all faith. But I have made every possible
excuse ; I have looked at the strongly objective mind ;
I have sheltered myself under you for greater meta-
The Satur- physical powers ; and so-and-so. Well ; but the crisis has
day Review come. To my mind, whoever wrote that article on
^d"E 'says " Essays and Reviews" was not a Christian in any sense
Reviews." of the word that I can follow.1 You know what I mean.
You know I do not therefore give him over at once
to eternal damnation ; but to salvation on any Gospel
scheme, he really has no claim. And with these men you
are working. For co-operation with heretics or infidels
much may be said. But, do you remember that you told
me I ought not to avail myself of W. Goodwin's great
Coptic knowledge in the Pan Liturgicon because of this
very book ? It had not struck me before, but I know that
you were right. And yet he, a layman, a man who has
suffered for principle. Saturday Review professes to be a
Church Review. Priests are known to write in it ; with
their co-operation this appears. Now I have said my say.
If you think it right to go on co-operating with those who
cast in their lots with them, and laugh at the (I confess)
poor and weak efforts made to check them, GOD forbid
I should condemn you ; but there is a gulf between us,
indeed! Suppose that the Bishop's condemnation had
been as clever as it was well meant, would not the writer
of the Review have hated it full more ? He hated the
attempt, not the weakness. The joy it would be to me to
hear that you had felt it right to give up your connection
1 See Christian Remembrancer, xli. 439-489.

LITERARY WORK 331

with that Review, GOD only knows. Do not fear another
letter of this sort from me ; if you can tell me you forgive
me, I shall be truly rejoiced.

To B. W. April 9th, 1861. S. C.

Thank you much for not being offended with me ; that
was the only feeling I could have had, the fear that you
might think me impertinent. I cannot alter my opinion ;
but who am I that I should judge another ?

This Holy Week and Easter were particularly busy ;
so many people made a retreat, and that gives me more
to do at S. Margaret's.

As to " Dalmatia," I have been in a little perplexity. Book of
You know, I asked to dedicate it to the Committee. ^^^
Well, when it was all but finished, I was told that the dedicated
Emperor of Austria (who heard of it through Count to EmPeror
Apponyi) would not be displeased to have it dedicated
to him. Count Apponyi said, however, that I must send
the printed book before published to their Chancelleriey
in case there should be anything which would render it
not fitting. I did not well see how I could refuse, sympa
thizing as I do with Austria ; so if I have the permission
or command to dedicate it to Francis Joseph, I suppose
I must. I hope that you and Hope will not think this
mean in me, but I really was puzzled. If, after all, they
find that " better not," I shall be all right.

I had a very pleasant communication from the under
graduates of the University of Charkow the other day.
They had heard of my thanks from Kazan, and were
resolved not to be behindhand.

My review of Stanley's " Eastern Church " 1 is to appear
simultaneously in the Christian Remembrancer here, and in
the Moscow Quarterly, which equals the Christian Remem
brancer. In the meantime I am working hard at Georgian,
which Agnes 2 is learning with me. This spring, or rather
summer, I propose, all well, to take Agnes and Vincent
into Champagne, Burgundy, and Alsace, for shewing off

1 See Christian Remembrancer^ xlii. 224-250.

2 His eldest daughter.

332 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

the French Cathedrals and Minsters there, e.g. S. Quentin,
Troyes, Rheims, Noyon, Laon, Colmar, Schlestadt, etc.
It is odd that I should never have seen Rheims.

Will you ask your wife to accept the third edition of
my " Bernard of Cluny," which is rather improved ?

To B. W. July 2 ist, 1861. Chur. Grisons.

I don't know that I should have written to you from
scopes kere> ha<3 it not been that I have now absolutel) roved
(P. 98). what is the use of lychnoscopes. I was at Zug on Tuesday ;
S. Oswald there is a very interesting Church, with a Flam
boyant nave of five bays. In the first, second, and fifth of
them, on the South side, is a lychnoscope, trefoiled, but
pointing to the West deeply splayed. I asked the Kusterine
what they were for. " They have not been used," she said,
" for 200 years, but they were for Confession. People used to
kneel outside without telling their names ; now that is not
done." Happening to find one of the Priests after, I asked
the same question, and had the same answer. Now, observe,
I had suggested nothing in the matter, and this fact, coming
on the head of a probable belief, ought really to settle the
question. I have seen no other lychnoscope in Switzerland ;
but then, as you know, old Churches are rare. Our route
has been this : Abbeville, Creil, Noyon, Laon, Rheims,
Chalons-sur-Marne,Strasburg (Obernay, Schlestadt, Colmar,
Gebweiler, Thann), all in Alsace ; Basle, Lucerne, Fliielen,
back to Weggis, the Righi, back to Weggis, Trumensee,
Zug, Horgen, Rapperswyl, rail to Chur. Thence to the
frontier of the Spliigen pass, and the Schneehorn Glacier,
and so back here. This Cathedral is richer in plate and
crosses (Mediaeval) than any I have seen. Reliquaries and
shrines, and crosses in the Tresor ; but each Altar also has
its original Cross. You remember Street's view in the
Ecclesiologist ; it is like enough, except that the crypt (as
I remember the drawing) is made by him higher than it is.
I have done very little in the way of Sequences ; but could
I have stopped another night at Basle (as I would, had I
had the money), I could have done a good stroke. I have
seen the old Chur Breviary here in the Bishop's Library ;

TOUR IN FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND 333

he had a Missal, but it is lost. To-morrow we fairly start
for home, all well, via Schaffhausen, Freiburg-in-Breisgau,
Mannheim, Treves, to the Moselle and Coblenz. Rheims,
which I never saw before, is henceforth the beau ideal of a
Cathedral ; Le Mans, the Cathedral and other Churches of
Chalons, have the finest developed Middle-Pointed I ever
saw in France.1 In this place Romansch is spoken a good
deal ; but the sermons, both Catholic and Protestant, are
in German. In the villages round, however, and especially
in the Engadine, sermons and confessions are universally
in it. Public notices are in Italian, German, and Romansch.
Here the Protestants are to the Catholics as three to two, and
the Priests do not seem active ; indeed, I have seen very little
religious work in Eastern France. Noyon, Beauvais, and
Senlis being under one Bishop is a bad thing for the united
Diocese, and the same of T. aon Soissons. The scandal of
the Abbe Bourdaud and Adele Chevalier is making a great
sensation. Most unhappy it is, to be sure, for the French
Church just now, unless it should help to bring La Sallette
into discredit. You can't think what an odd Sunday even
ing that was at Noyon, when we were so close to the comet. Comet.
So hot, and so dark, and such a lurid glare all round the
horizon. We thought it — at Laon, and again at Rheims —
surpasses the comet of 1858.

To J. H. Aug. 4th, 1 86 1.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

Thank you much for so kind a letter. We re
turned on August ist, having been thirty- five days out going,
thus : Abbeville, Noyon,* Laon,* Rheims,* Chalons-sur-
Marne, Strasburg, Oberrheim, Obernay,* Colmar, Geb-
weiler, Basle,* Lucerne,* The Righi, Zug, Coire,* Spliigen,
Coire,* Schaffhausen, Zurich, Freiburg in Breisgau, Spires,
Treves,* down the Moselle to Coblenz,* Cologne. At all
these places we slept ; at those marked with an asterisk
two nights. I think we all enjoyed it very much, though number of
from the children's rather desiring mountains, it was not chur(Jes

seen by

so good for Churches as to number. However, I saw ninety, him.
1 " French Ecclesiology," Christian Remembrancer, xlvi. 420-446.

334 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

making me altogether 2745. I have been pretty well at
work on the Psalms since I came back. At S. Margaret's
we shall on Monday (all well) receive another Sister-
Sister Zillah. That makes us twelve.

To B. W. Aug. 2ist, 1861. S. C.

The mean- . . . The letters on my book are explained in the account
AE°IOU of the triPtidl at Aussee. They mean A(ustriae) E(st)
on cover of I(mperare) O(rbi) U(niverso) ; or Aus Erdreich 1st Oester-
book. reich Unterthan ; or, if you like, Austria Empire Is Our
Universe.

About the Doctor, I find it is thought uncivil to the
College not to be called so, and it is so dinned in my
ears by the townspeople, who think themselves honoured
in me, that it will soon cease to sound strange.
Trans- You don't say how you like "Dalmatia." The Glagolita

chaPter has already been translated into Russ. Did I tell
you — but I think not — about the Bishop of Bruges ? He
has applied to me, to know if I would allow him to have
a selection from my stories for children translated into
Flemish and French, and published under his sanction.
It is curious that these stones should have, in a reprint,
been largely circulated in America, translated into German
for Lutherans, into Russ for the Eastern Communion, and
now for Roman Catholics.

Nursing at You remember Lingfield, where the brasses are. The
typhus is raging there, and spreading. At present we
have only one Sister there, several of the others being out
elsewhere ; but I see that we shall have hard work with
it. There is an evangelical minister there, one Fry. He
never came near the cottage till after our Sister was there,
then his first words were, " Of course Davey had a perfect
right to get any help he could, but I wish he had gone
anywhere else rather." However, he was pleased to be
more condescending afterwards. When he came in, she
was scouring the floor, the house being horribly filthy ;
so, pointing to her arms, which were in soapsuds above
the elbow, he said, "Mind, I don't say that's wrong in
itself, if you do it from a good motive." The very same

PRESSURE OF WORK 335

day there appeared in the county paper, apropos of a
school feast, a great laudation of this man as a most
vigilant pastor of a most happy parish.

I have a troublesome article for next Christian Remem
brancer, " The Continental Church since 1815." l I di^ not
know what a laborious affair it would turn out.

I don't think I have anything worth saying in the
Ecclesiologist. Laon and Noyon would only be Violet-
le-duc and water. If you like a page or two on the
Churches of Zug, that I could do.

To B. W. Sept. I4th, 1861. S. C.

The week after next I shall, all well, be at Shepperton, Work at
and when there have to go over to Clewer. I think you Slsterhood-
have never seen it. Will you go with me ? . . . What I
have to do, which is only to settle one or two matters
with the Assistant Superior, will not take me ten minutes,
so we shall see a good deal of each other.

I don't think I was ever more busy in my life than I
have been these last ten days ; and I have a poor dying
girl at S. Margaret's who takes up a good deal of time.
She had been one of our orphans, was sent out to a place,
fell into a galloping consumption, and at her own earnest
request came home to die here. I have not often seen
anyone suffer so much ; however, I hope that the disease
will truly in her case make good its Portuguese name, " the
death of the predestinate."

We had last Sunday that Countess Patapoff, of whom invitations
I think I told you, at S. Margaret's. Her Confessor, one from.
Apollinarius,a monk in the Troitzkoi-Sergievsky Monastery,
had told her to come, and to write him a particular account
of it. She speaks English very sufficiently well. But the
quantity of invitations she brought me from Russia — both
at S. Petersburg, Moscow, and Novgorod — is marvellous, and
from Prince Gouriel, in Georgia. I do hope some day to go.

Do you know, S. Margaret's will cost very nearly
.£3000 this year. We are looking out for an additional
house — the 6th.

1 Christian Remembrancer, xlii. 408-440.

336 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

In 1 86 1 Messrs. Saunders and Otley approached him
with a proposal that he should write a large History of
the Church on his own terms and time. With the immense
amount of work he had on hand he felt forced to decline.
The publishers, however, tried again to persuade him, as
the next letter relates, and in 1862 a large volume of his
" Essays on Liturgiology and Church History," collected
principally from the Christian Remembrancer, was published
by them.

To B. W. Nov. 2oth, 1 86 1. S. C.

Proposed . . . Well, Saunders and Otley returned vigorously to

r/thT the charSe- S° * began to consider that it would only

Church, put off the Greek History — if I live — four or five years,

and that I might give a fair share to the " Eastern Church "

(which no one yet has ever done) in a General History.

Therefore I wrote and offered them four octavo volumes

of 600 pages — for £500 the first edition, paid volume by

volume, with the option of making it five, that one to be

;£ioo, and all the books I want. They so jumped at this,

that I am now sorry I did not ask half as much again.

It will not in the least interfere with the Psalms, which

I work at in the late afternoon, and in the evenings when

I have no confessions.

I have to be in London on the 28th, when I preach at
S. Paul's, Knightsbridge ; and on the nth, when I preach
at S. Matthias'. Shall you be in town on either of those
days ?

" Hymns Ancient and Modern " are going out as fast
as they came in, I hear. They don't work well.

I will tell Masters to send you a rather curious book
of my editing — " The History of the Council of Florence,"
translated by Basil Popoff— our PopofFs son — from the
Russ, and with things hitherto unknown, from MSS. at
Moscow.

Sister- Did I tell you how I was working about the proposed

hoods and motion in Convocation of Seymour about recognizing

cation. Sisterhoods ? I have got these to agree to stand together

in refusing any recognition that will not allow these three

SISTERHOODS 337

things — the name, a distinctive dress, and vows, whether
for a term of years or for life.

Clewer . . . with 26 Sisters

S. Margaret's . . .
S. George's . . .
Margaret Street . .
S. Thomas', Oxford.
S. Mary's, Brighton
Horbury . . . .

i5 „

12 „
II »

8 „

10 „

4 „
86

A good total, is it not ? I have failed with Wantage,
which however has only seven. Ditchingham I have not
yet had, and Miss Sellon one hardly can make common
cause with. There is an incipient Sisterhood at Tenterden,
in Kent, on which we have laid our paw.

To B. W. Dec. 6th, 1861. S. C.

... Do you know — if you won't be vexed at my saying A protest.
it — I can't conceive how any — I will not now say Priest,
but even gentleman — can be connected with a paper that
allows itself such unbridled license of language as the
Saturday Review about Jowett. Of course, it has a right
to its own view of the matter, though I think it is a
shallow one ; but it is the furiousness of the language
of what I am speaking. Why, Manhattan is polite in
comparison. I think I know what you would say to me
were our positions reversed. However, you must forgive
me for all this. I will tell you of a vxwa irap" virovoiav,
which I think will make you laugh. On Sunday at Vespers cate-
(at S. Margaret's) I always catechize the small mites — say chizing.
from four to ten (I hear the older girls every morning).
We were talking about Noah.

Q. How many clean beasts did Noah take of each sort ?

A. Seven.

Q. And he took two of each sort — of what ?

A. Of dirty beasts.

I heard a gentle rustling of dresses on each side of
the Oratory that shewed me the Sisters were taxing their

338 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

powers of gravity to the very uttermost. But no one,

luckily, broke out. After all, what is that particular thing

which makes that answer incline one to laugh? This

"Hymns morning I have the last proof of my Greek Hymns.

Eastern * ^° kop6 tnev w^ ^e liked. Yesterday I corrected

Church." " Bernard " for a fourth edition. We have dreadfully hard

1862. work at S. Margaret's just now. Five of the Sisters are

out nursing — three of them in dreadful places, one of them

so bad that, though the Sister there has — if any woman

ever had — the heart of a lion, it is as much as ever I can

do to keep her steady to it. You will easily conceive that

a good deal of the "keeping steady" has to be done at

this desk.

My father was a skilled catechist. Besides his power
of expressing himself in simple language, and giving clear
explanations, he had a remarkable and encouraging way
of making a faulty answer, or even a wrong one, serve his
purpose in bringing out the lesson, so that the children
had no fear in attempting to answer him. He riveted
their attention, too, by means of frequent stories ; his own
children used sometimes to ask him beforehand if there
would be one in the evening sermon in the College Chapel,
and there generally was. But, above all, it was his intense
sympathy with children, their difficulties, troubles, and
pleasures, which gave him his power over them.
Love of He could not bear a child to be in trouble, and apropos

children. of fti[s tenderheartedness of his, his youngest daughter well
remembers her somewhat unique punishment for having
been very passionate. She had been put to bed, but her
father, hearing of it, sent for " Babes " (as he called her),
and when she came with some trepidation, knowing she
well deserved a scolding, his only remark was, " Get your
hat, and come out into the town with me." As they went,
the child was constantly expecting the reprimand, which,
however, never came — until the toy-shop was reached, and
seven dolls of various sizes were bought for her. With
her "punishment" in her arms, she went home, and if her
father's object was to make her thoroughly ashamed of her
temper, he succeeded, for, as she says, she " hated the sight
of those dolls ever after ! "

Children's His love of children shewed itself in the keenness with
pleasures, which he entered into their pleasures. Until his Sundays

LOVE OF CHILDREN 339

became too fully occupied, a walk in the woods with him
was our regular Sunday afternoon treat ; and many a picnic
to Ashurst Wood, or Luxford Rocks, or Brambletye, or
Great-upon-Little were his suggestion, and his delight as
well as ours. Again, at fair-times, or when there was a
menagerie or circus visiting the town, he used to take us,
and later on the orphans, to see it. In the case of a circus,
he would call on the proprietor first, to satisfy himself that
there should be nothing in the afternoon entertainment
which was unfit for children to hear. Once the proprietor,
not being able honestly to guarantee this, offered to send
up his performing elephants gratis to the College ; and
there in the quadrangle, to the equal delight of its inmates
and the orphanage, the animals went through their un
wieldy performance on tubs, the large porch door, only
as a rule open for funerals, being swung open for their
entrance.

From this year (1861) onward it will be noticed there
are very few letters. The increasing work of the Sister
hood with the "keeping steady" (as he called it) the
Sisters, — sermons, confessions, and classes for them, — the
establishment of new branches of the Sisterhood, with
preaching and lecturing tours to provide for its mainten
ance, did not seem to check his literary output, but crowded
out his correspondence to friends. The letters he wrote
are, with few exceptions, either the briefest record of work
accomplished, or directions and details regarding fresh
schemes for the Sisterhood, or letters of counsel adapted
to the needs of the recipient only. With all his energy
something must give way to his ever-increasing work, and
the full and familiar correspondence, which all his life (p. 6)
had been a favourite recreation, almost ceased.

CHAPTER XXI

1862-65

WORK OF THE SISTERS — LETTERS OF COUNSEL

Who has not felt in hour of need or woe,

Illapses more than earthly ? This be sure ;

That when we solve — GOD grant we solve it well ! —

That last and greatest riddle, when our eyes

Begin to open on the spirit-land,

Then we shall learn how mixed and intertwined

Thro' all our course hath been that land with this.

THE Rev. Joseph Haskoll, to whom some of the earlier
and most of the later letters in this volume were written,
was a very dear and intimate friend. It was he who first
suggested that the Warden of Sackville College should
leave the petty troubles and opposition there, and come
to the aid of the Scottish Church, and who urged him
to accept the Deanery of Perth. During my father's last
illness he often came to see him, and was with him at his
death. Left literary executor, he edited only a few volumes
of sermons, for he died in 1868, less than two years after
his friend.

To the Rev. J. HASKOLL. Dec. 8th, 1862.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

It seems very long since I have written, and yet
I have plenty to say. I think I wrote last just after dear
Sister E.'s death.

" Essa s First, in the book line. My Essays ought to be out

on Litur- this week ; they will be a handsome octavo of about

gioiogy." ^o pages. I put in that article you wished, "Europe

from 1815 to 1860." The second edition of Greek Hymns

WORK OF THE SISTERHOOD 341

ought to be out now. I have a great many applications
for them for Hymnals. And the second (edition) of my
" Mediaeval Hymns " is nearly printed. I have improved
and fattened it ; it will be half as long again as the first I
am, all well, to have two articles in next Christian Remem
brancer ; 1 one on the Scotch Liturgy, the other on Adam
of S. Victor, which will be rather an elaborate one.

Now about S. Margaret's. Our chief work lately has
been the House of Refuge at Ash. I have been there
twice, and begin to know the Camp. The Vicar of Ash
is very friendly ; so are the brigade chaplains. It requires
two good Sisters there. . . . They have one poor girl
there dying of consumption. I heard her first, and I
suppose her last, Confession when I was over there. We
have good accounts of our girls in Columbia. The Mother
has not yet come back (from a begging tour in Lancashire).
The cotton famine has, of course, been in her way ; how
ever, she has netted £200, with promises of perhaps £50
more. Ash, I should tell you, is no expense to us.
S. Agnes', our Middle School, goes on flourishing. We
have five new pupils coming, all well, this Christmas ; it
now takes up two adjacent houses. We send a Sister to
Aberdeen to-night, to work for some time in Comper's
parish. It is a great pleasure to me to see how, with one
or two exceptions, the Sisters are getting on in themselves.
But I often think if M. knew the incessant care and keeping
up to the mark they need, he would see that a Sisterhood
is not to be " enterprised and taken in hand unadvisedly,
lightly, or wantonly."

Well, I think I must have tried your patience ; so, with
my love to your wife, believe me,

Ever yours affectionately,

J. M. NEALE.

To the same. March 4th, 1863.

We are now occupied in two rather important things.
The one, the laying the foundations of an independent

1 Scotch Liturgy, Christian Remembrancer, xliv. 200-240; xlv.
208-224; Hymns, xlvi. 105-144.

342 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

daughter Sisterhood at Aberdeen : of the Order of S.
Margaret's, you understand, and unable to change any
fundamental rules without the consent of both Houses.
The first Superior to be appointed by us ; and she, and
the first Sisters, to be received by me, there at Aberdeen ;
and a veto on any future Superior to lie with our Mother,
Assistant Superior, and myself; she to spend a month
here on her election. As this is the first attempt in the
English Church to establish such a connection, we must
expect difficulties ; but Comper is a pleasant man to work
with.

The other affair is the establishment of a Sisterhood

Hawaii. in Hawaii, which the Bishop has left in my hands ; the
national parliament to vote the annual sum. ... I have
written to Kamehameha IV. on the matter, and asked
^"300 a year.1

In the Polynesian, which was sent me thence, there
is a most interesting account of the King and Queen's
Confirmation and First Communion, which I hope will be
in the Guardian to-morrow.

Sisters' We are to have our first Retreat next week. . . . We

Retreat have never before had Sisters enough to make it possible.

and work, chambers gives it ; you must think of them then. From
Epiphany to Lent they were so incessantly worked that
they need this very much.

At Ash, thank GOD, we are getting on very well.
There are about nine girls there : and as many have been
got into penitentiaries. Did I tell you of one who, though
only twenty-four, had been in prison twenty-three times ;
had not slept under a roof for six weeks ; and all that time
had worn, without taking off, the same clothes? Add to
which, she had what they fear will be cancer in the eye.
She is really now looking quite respectable.

Now I think I have told you all, except that our
Middle School is rapidly increasing, and those who come
are rising in station, etc. The " Psalms " go on very fairly.
This Lent, one's time for work is divided thus: 9.15-12,
Article Christian Remembrancer or preparation for Psalms ;
1 The mission was finally undertaken by Miss Sellon's Community.

WORK FOR SISTERHOOD 343

12.30 till dinner, letters; 3.30-5, Confessions; 7.30-9,
writing Psalms [the Commentary].

Whitsun Monday, 1863.

... I forget whether I told you that I was going out Preaching
on a preaching tour for S. Margaret's. However, I have tour'
been, and came back last Friday. I went by Harlow,
Boyne Hill, Bristol, Leeds, Houghton-le-Spring, Berwick,
Aberdeen, Perth. These are the places where I preached.
I also gave a lecture, on Sisterhoods generally, in the Town
Hall of Durham, and it answered very well indeed.

I heard Monro catechize on Sunday afternoon, and it
was simply the most wonderful thing I ever did hear.

I spent four days with Comper, settling about our child-
Sisterhood.

I hope to have another tour in the Autumn.

June 27th, 1863.

We have now started the new house at Aberdeen. If New
the communion between the two is kept up, it will be House at
an epoch in English Sisterhoods. The Mother goes down
there, all well, on Wednesday.

Nov. Qth, 1863.

We are now hard at work on the Tunbridge Wells line Navvies'
of railway. The part just round here will be the only hard
bit. . . . As soon as the works were fairly begun, we sent a
Sister on the line between twelve and one to read to the
men at dinner. She soon got up the rudiments of a night
school, and now we have them in the Refectory at S.
Margaret's, on Sundays for one hour, and on three week-
nights for two. We have twenty on the books, but the
night gangs prevent their all coming at once.

To the Rev. J. HASKOLL. Aug. iQth, 1864.

. . . You know that we have bought the ground for our Site for
new house. You remember the London road. Well, if
you go down that about three-quarters of a mile, it will

344 LETTERS OF JOHN 1&ASON NEALE

then lie a third of a mile to your right. The view to the
north is very lovely, over the Surrey hills. The field is ten
acres. We have also bought a quarry about three hundred
yards off ; so we shall have no expense in cartage. That
stone will do for the walls : plain mullions we can get from
a quarry at Ashurst Wood : it is not a pretty coloured
sandstone — tawny red — but good. Our quarry is white,
with a few iron stains. The plans are in Street's hands.
s. Agnes' S. Agnes' has marvellously prospered. A large new
house we now have, not ugly, on the common. We
have thirty-three girls, and are continually having fresh
applications.

The new vicar, Peat, and I get on very well. He allows
us to put up crosses to our Sisters and children. We have
three wooden ones up already, and one stone ; a second is
in hand.

To the same. Nov. I4th, 1864.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

It was a great pleasure to me to have your letter.
I could write you a volume if I had only time.

Re-union. First, as to Re-union. You don't know how hopeful
matters are. The American Church has had a semi-official
request from the Holy Governing Synod, through Philaret
of Moscow, for information on five points : i. Our Succes
sion ; 2. Tradition; 3. The Articles; 4. Filioque ; 5. The
Seven Sacraments.

In the Eastern Association, we have divided these
among ourselves, for a short plain treatise.1 I have the
Filioque. S. Oxon. sent for me the other day to Lavington,
where a number met. There was an attache to our Lega
tion at Brussels, who had lately seen Prince Orloff, the
Emperor's great favourite, who promised to do all he
could : and the Empress, who prays for Re-union every
day. I have to draw up a series of propositions about the
The insertion of the clause (not the doctrine) Filioque, which
Filioque Archdeacon Randall is to get through Committee, if he

clause.

1 See Christian Remembrancer, xlvii. 455-470, " Intercommunion
with E,C."

WORK OF THE SISTERS 345

can, and then through the Lower House, and S. O. will
fight it through the Upper. It ends with our deep sorrow
for the insertion. Is not this like business ?

You probably have not heard of our brilliant successes
in Hertfordshire. Caistor was nothing to it. We had one
Sister at Hitchin with fifty-six scarlet fever patients, Work of
another at Baldock with a hundred and forty, all at the Si
same time. At Baldock, see a Sister's help. Sister M.
went there in the third week : the deaths, which in the
two previous weeks had been twenty and eighteen, sank
when she came, in the third to eight, then to four, two, two,
two, and three. (The last rise, from a teetotaller, who
would not let his children have wine.)

People give freely food, beef tea, etc., when anyone can
distribute it, they not daring themselves to do so. ... I
spent some hours at Baldock : it was like a City of the
Plague.

I am, all well, to take the Clewer Retreat. It begins on Retreat at
the evening of Tuesday the 22nd, and ends on Friday Clewer-
night. My subject will be the going of the Three Maries
to the Tomb, taken as the type of the Religious Life.

We said in the Oratory the Penitential Psalms at eight
for Mtiller.1 I never knew anything more solemn. It
seemed as if a death were going on in the room.

The following was written to a lady who had to undergo
an operation.

Feb. roth, 1863.

MY DEAR CHILD,

. . . Our Mother gave me your dear husband's
letter — so that is the old story once more repeated : suffer
ing to be well borne for our dear Lord's sake.

But now I am going to speak to you just as I might to
one of my own children in Confession.

What else was it that the Martyrs and Confessors had The trial
to bear besides pain for their (and our) Lord's sake ? It t°if0^umilia"
was humiliation, was it not? We are too much apt to

1 A murderer whose crime had made a great sensation, and who
was executed at that precise time.

346 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

forget how great a part of their bitter cup, especially in the
case of women, that formed.

I once wrote a little story of a Virgin Martyr, intended
to bring that part of her agony especially out. I have
asked them to send it to you.

Now, in your own case, my child, there is to a certain
extent the same trial : is there not also the same support ?
Nay, is not the double trial only the more like His Passion
whom we all love best ? Do you remember how, when
one — who, if he were not a saint, at all events trod in the
paths of the saints — was nearing his end, Louis XVI. , of
France, he was not afraid of the guillotine, but he shrank
from having his hands tied ? And how his Confessor told
him that this was but following his Lord more closely.

So — if you will let me say it — (and I have said it many
and many a time before now), try to take comfort in this.
In pain, you think of the Crown of Thorns, and the Nails
and the Cross, do you not ? Well, and in what seems
to you humiliation, will you not equally be thinking of the
Scourging, and of our dear Lord's being despoiled of His
robes before His Crucifixion ?

Meanwhile, I earnestly pray that God will help and
support and comfort you in whatever He calls you to
undergo.

Believe me yours most truly,

J. M. NEALE.

To the same lady. Aug. 2oth.

MY DEAR CHILD,

I was so glad to hear that Sister Alice had
called on you, in spite of the little time. From her I heard
the kind of trouble you have. Now listen to this.

God gives you the greatest, the very greatest, of all
gifts — an immortal soul and body to take care of for Him.

It would be — I scarcely know how to call it— an absurd
and wicked lie, if I pretended to judge of what it must cost
a mother to give up her baby to be nursed by a stranger.
But there are two ways of looking at your present sorrow.

A LETTER OF COUNSEL 347

The one, the hard one, "you ought." When the
physician once says " you must," your duty is clear.

But something else. Our Lord does know what it costs
you. Did you ever think of this ? Why did He, when
comforting His disciples about His absence, take the
example that He did ? " A woman when she is," etc. s. John
They say, and no doubt truly, for this reason, to prove xvu 2I*
how utterly He felt for the sorrows of all, as of all ages, so
of all sexes, and that more perfectly, more entirely than
we can do.

I was so glad to hear of you, and my pet Minnie ; is
she ever going to write to me ?

My love to all. I have said long ago how thankful I
am about York.

Now one thing : hard as the trial is, in the first place, Duty to a
while it is necessary, your baby will get no harm from her
nurse. In the second, you are bound to try and feel kindly
to her, and if it may be so, to help her to be good.

With kindest regards to your husband, and love to that
idle Minnie, and to the others,

Believe me, yours affectionately,

J. M. NEALE.

To Mrs. HASKOLL. February 4th, 1865.

MY DEAR MRS. HASKOLL,

I am ashamed of myself for not writing before.
In truth, I had a very curious journey, both physically and
theologically.

If I did not thank you for all your care of me, it is only
because I know you would rather not be thanked : but,
like the parrot, I think of it all the more.

About twenty miles from London we began to get into A
a fog : and in London it was, I suppose, the worst fog
ever known. Not yellow — that is bad enough — but white,
which refracted the lamps at right angles to themselves,
and was bewildering beyond all measure. Cabs were not
allowed in the station ; but an outside porter led me to a
hansom. With a linkboy it took an hour and a half to get
from King's Cross to the beginning of London Bridge, and

348 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

then the boy refused to proceed. I never saw (or rather was
in) such a curious scene. I could not see my hand. At last,
by shouting, we got two linkboys, and got over the bridge.
People on the pavement were shouting, " Is this Holborn
Hill?" "Am I in Hyde Park, or where ?" At last the
horse staggered, and seemed to be butting against some
thing, which we took to be a waggon stopping. The
driver shouted to them to move on, but nothing moved ;
and at last a policeman (I imagine, for I could not see)
asked him what he was bellowing for. " For the waggon
to get on ! " " Waggon ? do you know where you are ? "
We had crossed the bridge, turned a little to the left, and
the horse was on the pavement, pushing his head against
the railings of S. Bartholomew's. So, led by the policeman,
attended by the two linkboys, and driven by the driver,
the horse and I, as in a procession, got to the Station at
eight. I was afraid the train was gone, and asked in a
hurry. " Gone ? why, we haven't got the 6.15 (the Croydon
one) off yet." So seeing that I could not get further than
Three Bridges that night, I slept at the Terminus Hotel,
and came down next morning.

The theological part of my journey I must write to
your husband.

That letter is missing, but its substance appeared in the
Church Times of Jan. 2ist, 1865, as follows : —

SIR,

Re East- As an illustration of Dr. Littledale's admirable

ward pamphlet, " The North Side of the Altar," let me relate an
occurrence which happened to myself. In a certain
diocese in the Midland Counties, a dignitary of the Church
was kind enough to favour me with his sentiments on the
subject of the position of the Priest at the Altar, and the
eminent (and slightly prosy) divine wound up his dis
course by declaring that neither "popular language nor
common sense " ever did, or ever could, mean anything
by the north side but the north end. AVTOQ tya. In two
hours from that time I was on my way to London, and

THE " NORTH SIDE " 349

duly arrived at the terminus, the geographical position of
which was this (or nearly this)—

E. is of course the eastern, W. the western platform, S.
the short platform connecting the other two. On alighting
on the up platform, E., my attention was attracted by the

following notice : " All luggage intended for the train

must be deposited at the south side of the platform."
" Now," said I to myself, " let us see ' how popular language
and common sense ' understand ' south side.' " Was it
where Puritans, and the eminent man I had lately left,
would have put it — on S. ? No, it was at * : a clear proof
that, but for a false tradition, popular common sense would
have understood the Altar rubric correctly and ritually.

I remain,

Yours faithfully,

J. M. N.

To one of his daughters before her Confirmation.

April 4th, 1865.

I need not tell you how much I shall think of you confirma-
to-morrow. tion-

If you knew, as well as I know, how many of those
who have not been till then, trying to serve GOD at all,
have, from their Confirmation tried to become His true
servants (that is, to use the word which is none the less
true because it has been so sadly mistaken, been converted),
I think you would feel that those who have been so trying
—as you, my pet, have — are all the more bound to try
better. See : suppose that a poor soldier, sorely wounded
and scarcely recovered, was armed, and sent out to battle
again : and that another, a little wounded, was so armed and
so sent ; to which would the armour be the greater help ?
We all know. To the less wounded. Well, darling, and

350 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

that is your case. You have been trying. I daresay — I
know — very often failing — but what then ? My pet : now
you are going to put on armour : and if you find that
Satan (who whatever he may not be, is clever enough)
tempts you in any way more afterwards — why should he
not, if he likes ? It may not so be : generally it is. But
to us, Christians, that matters very little. It seems to me
that GOD seems to put a special honour on this lesser
Sacrament. I cannot tell you how much I have read in
books, how much I know of my own knowledge, that by it
those who were not trying before have been made to try,
how much those who were trying before have been led to
try more. I should not like my darling to be the
exception, in the last case, that proves the rule. Does
she think I should ?

GOD bless you always, pet : especially to-morrow. I
will say a special prayer for you (please GOD), when I
celebrate.

Ever your own loving father,

J. M. NEALE.

To the same.

April, 1865.

University You will have heard that we were beaten. You may
Race" not have heard why.

It was because the long, slow, steady sweep of the
Oxford oars, though it threw them behind at first, in
the long run gave them an easy victory over the short,
snatchy strokes of our men.

" Which things," as S. Paul says, are also " an allegory."
If you cannot find it out for yourself, I will tell you when
you come home.

GOD bless you always.

To J. HASKOLL. S. John Port-Latin (May 6th), 1865.

A death. Last Friday we had so beautiful a death : a child of

ours, afterwards at Crown Street, then a servant at
S. Agnes', where she broke a blood-vessel, and came up to

A DEATH-BED 351

die at S. Margaret's. She was over twenty. She received
her Viaticum an hour and thirty-five minutes before her
death. The conclusion was : " It is nearly over, is it not ? "
"Very nearly over indeed." (This was four minutes before
the last.) " Then," in the calmest voice possible, " it is
time for me to bid you each Good-bye." She held out her
arm to the Sister nearest her, then to each in order, and
said " Good-bye " to each, in as matter-of-fact a way as
anyone going a journey, — had a message or two for those
on the other side, — and when, last of all, I kissed her, she
said " Good-bye ; I shall always remember you." Then
she turned herself on her side ; laid her head on the pillow ;
settled it there, like a tired child ; drew two sighs, and
it was over. It was a very nice funeral ; a very pretty
procession of seventy ; the Psalms chanted for the first
time in East Grinstead, and " Jerusalem the Golden " sung
at the grave. The churchyard was very full ; every one
behaved well.

To one of his daughters.

June 1 2th, 1 86$.

Yours is not a very easy question to answer in a few Body,
words. But it has always been thought that when it says soul» and
that GOD created man in His Own Image it meant this,spint'
among other things: that, as in the One GOD there are
three Persons, so in the one man there are three parts —
body, soul, and spirit. The body, of course, beasts have in
common with us : so they have the soul, that thing by
which they love, or hate, or obey : that power by which a
dog, if his master must have gone one of three ways, will
smell at two, and then, if that was in vain, will run down
the third without smelling. This in beasts may, or may
not, be immortal ; in us we know it must be, because of
the immortality of the body. And then there is the spirit,
which we have and beasts have not, and which is naturally
immortal.

You know how often in the Bible the three things are
mentioned together. " I pray GOD that your whole body
and soul and spirit may be preserved blameless."

352 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

And that verse in S. James means the same thing :
about the wisdom that is "earthly, sensual, devilish."
Sensual in the Greek is only " soulish." And in S. John,
the lust of the flesh has to do with the body ; the lust of
the eyes with the soul ; the pride of life with the spirit.
When Eve gave way to all at once, a beast, as well as
she, might have seen that the fruit was good for food ;
so he might that it was pleasant to the eyes (for we know
how beasts are attracted by, or enraged at, bright colours) ;
but a beast never could have fancied that it was a tree to
make one wise, because that was the temptation of the
spirit,

Poor Miss S. is to be buried this afternoon. We shall
chant the Psalms and sing " Jerusalem the Golden" at
the grave.

The following was written to a daughter, after a musical
party at school, at which both he and her mother were
present.

Nov. i5th, 1865.

A chatty I was so pleased to have your letter. Yes, we were

letter. a^ jate enollgh : that I know : for I got back to Wakeling's
as the clock was striking one.

I have not often seen a prettier sight than that evening ;
and everything, to my mind, went off so very nicely. In
the musical way what I liked best was that quartette—
the beginning, in which you were one ; and the chorus
at the end of the first part ; and one other — not quartette—
but piece in parts, in which Monsieur D. was not.

It was as pleasant an evening as — not having to
work — I have often spent. Apropos of the dresses you
wore, I was asking at supper just now what was the
difference between granadine (is that the right spelling ?)
and muslin. Also, between book-muslin (or mousseline)
and common muslin. Whereupon I was informed that all
muslin had some special name — like a Christian and a
sur-name. So, I am afraid, I am not much wiser than I was.

To speak of things here. Agnes, you know, has gone
to May C. Mama was yesterday at the re-opening of

A DOMESTIC LETTER 353

Horsham Church, which seems to have been a grand sight.
To-day our May and Alice C. went to Horsham for the
Confirmation, and Alice has at last what she so much
wished for (and, as I think, did something more than
only wish for, and so no wonder that she has had what
she wanted).

To-day, you know, is Grand mama's Birthday in the The anni-
highest sense of the word : so I went down to Hayward's versary
Heath to Aunties'. I never saw the Downs looking so mother's
lovely. And the trees here, though not now quite in their death,
full autumn beauty, are not far short of it. ^' IS*

Do you remember a chocolate-coloured dog called Rover
(some call him Ben) that used to come up with the S. Agnes'
girls ? A dog that belongs to nobody ? This beast has
lately taken to me, and haunts the study, or any other
room that he can get to. I have no doubt you will make
his acquaintance ; for he is so very good-tempered, and
so peacefully obstinate, that you can't turn him out. Any
how, / can't.

On Monday night I read " Hamlet " to the girls at
S. Agnes'. I think I did not read quite so much as Mr.
Crawfurd did ; but it took me 3 hours 5 minutes, though
we never stopped, except for a second to put coals on.
He was only 2j hours.

I wonder who the four gentlemen were that stayed
with you, when respectable persons like myself had taken
themselves off!

I enclose a Sequence of mine — one for you, and one
if you would like to give it to any one.

GOD bless you always, my pet.

Ever your own dear father,

J. M. NEALE.

The mention of this dog reminds us of his great
fondness for animals. So great was his love for his dog,
Pombal, his constant companion in Madeira, that after
its death he never kept another ; and for upwards of eight
years, in his journal, lie never failed to mark the number
of days since Pombal's death. The last number he set
down was 2956.

2 A

CHAPTER XXII

1865

LAYING FIRST STONE OF S. MARGARET'S CONVENT
— LECTURES

Thus, when the evening of calm, succeeding the day of the tempest,
Pours through the rifts of the clouds the marvellous glory of sunset,
Gilding each hard dark ledge, and melting the mist into silver ;
Then earth sends to the sky her great oblation of incense ;
Sparkles the tree and the flower, the birds chant gladly their

Vespers ;

Greener the green mead glows, more azure the blue of the aether :
Thus is the calm fair end of a life so chequered with chances.

THE first stone of S. Margaret's Convent was laid on
S. Margaret's Day, July 2oth, 1865. To its founder it
was a day of great thanksgiving and rejoicing, though
mingled with anxiety.

He wrote as follows to his friend :—

June 1 2th, 1865.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

The nearer we come to the great day the more I
see how many preparations must be made for it that the
Sisters cannot possibly make. What I want to know is if
you (and of course your wife) will come here a week before,
and if you would be my right-hand man that day. It will
be a great kindness if you will. The Mother Ann is going,
all well, to-morrow to Chichester, to ask the Bishop if he will
lay the stone. If he will, we shall be pretty sure of Oxford
also. The service we set about at once, in order that the
Choirs may have good time to practise it. We purpose

LAYING FIRST STONE OF S. MARGARETS 355

having S. Mary's, Crown Street, Stoke Newington, Chapel
Royal, and perhaps Christ Church, Clapham. Of course
we shall have a special train.

Mr. Haskoll, however, was not able to leave his parish
for so long, but wrote that he would come for the day.

To J. H. July 8th, 1865.

I am very glad that you, at least, will be able to come, interest
If the weather be fine, quod facial Deus ! it will be a great taken by
gathering. The tradesmen here are wonderfully interested : l
the town gentry rather hold back. The safe clergy in the
country come forward.

I suppose no one can tell the amount of work this
involves. I will send you a printed programme as soon as
it is struck off.

This is very gratifying. We had intended to go through
the fields, but the townspeople were so horribly disappointed
that we have engaged (unless the County Election should
be that day) to go through the town. It shews how com
pletely we can trust them, that I have not the least anxiety
in letting some thirty girls and the Sisters (the latter only
in veils) do this. It may tell in our coming fight for
Ritual.

Amongst other preparations the following address to
the workmen employed on the building was written by the
Founder in the name of the Sisterhood :—

To THE WORKMEN OF S. MARGARET'S CONVENT.

If a Frenchman were to land in England, for the first Address
time, on the 2oth of June, and were to hear, as he would to the

i i i 11 . . 1 . i , 11 workmen.

do, the bells ringing out their very merriest peal, he would
not be satisfied, I think, till he had found out what all this
gladness was about. And the first boy that he asked in
the street would of course tell him, " Because it's the Queen's
Accession Day."

On Thursday afternoon, if any visitor were to go down
to our new House, in the hope of seeing the work getting

356 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

on, and the masons, the carpenters, and bricklayers, and
labourers, and tram-men, and quarry-men, all busy about
their several employments, and trying to win a fair day's
wage for a fair day's work ; and if, instead of this, he were
to find some of you at cricket, some at this game, some at
that ; three or four of the Sisters here and there looking on
at your games, while the men whose business it is were
setting out your supper ; this visitor would be, I should
say, a very stupid sort of fellow, unless he were to put the
question — " What's all this about ? " And he would get
his answer easily, " Because it is S. Margaret's Day ; and
this is S. Margaret's House/'

Saint Very true indeed : but let us just hear who S. Margaret

was, and what she did to make us hold her name in honour,
and keep her day.

You know, almost all of you, that in the first three or
four hundred years after our LORD went up into heaven,
the greater part of the whole world was governed by the
Emperor of Rome. He, and all his people, worshipped
idols of different kinds. The Christians, who were but
few in number then, could worship none but the one Living
and True GOD. It sometimes happened that some par
ticular Emperor, because he was either fiercer or more
wicked than the others, stirred up a persecution against the
poor Christians, just as we read in the Acts of the Apostles
that Herod did, when he cut off the head of S. James the
Apostle. They were then put to death by hundreds and
by thousands ; and, generally speaking, in the most cruel
and dreadful ways. Those of them who thus died rather
than deny CHRIST were called Martyrs ; that is, witnesses :
for truly, no one can give better witness that he really
believes in GOD, and in our LORD JESUS CHRIST, than by
thus dying for Him. Of these Martyrs S. Margaret was
one. She was a girl of about eighteen ; beautiful, rich, of
noble family, and well known in Antioch, where she lived ;
that same Antioch of which you read in the Acts that the
disciples were called Christians first of all there. Her name
became afterwards very famous ; several English churches
are called after her: some of you may remember, for

TO THE WORKMEN 357

instance, S. Margaret's, at Brighton, and at Isfield. She
suffered martyrdom on the 2Oth of July, 1216 years ago.
This, then, is sufficient to tell you of her, except that her Meaning of
name means, in some languages, pearl; in others, daisy. thename-
I will just add, that in the windows of our churches, and
in other old pictures, she is painted with a dragon at her
feet ; and so, all well, you will some day see her carved
over the great western entrance of our new House. The
reason why she is thus drawn is this : because she con
quered, and especially in her martyrdom, the temptations
of the devil, who, you know, is sometimes in the Bible
likened to a dragon, as being so fierce and so poisonous.

I said that, if a visitor asked what Thursday's holiday
was all about, he would be told, Because it is S. Margaret's
Day ; and this is S. Margaret's House. But I should not
much wonder if, instead of S. Margaret's Hoiise, you were
to say, " And this is S. Margaret's Convent"

Now what does this word " Convent " mean ? It only Convent :
means "a coming together" : it may be for any purpose
under the sun. You know pretty well why the Sisters here
have " come together " : partly for the purpose of being sent
out to nurse the poor, in their own cottages ; partly for the
sake of teaching. Those of you who read the newspapers
— and I should think that comes to saying much the same
thing as " all of you," — must see the dreadful, the frightful
discoveries that people are beginning to make about the
way in which paupers are utterly neglected, and sometimes
most cruelly treated, in workhouses, especially in London
workhouses. Tories and Whigs, men that stick up for
Gladstone, and men that follow Disraeli — let them be what
they may in their politics, all are agreed about this. The
Daily Telegraph and the Standard have no difference here.
"The poor," they say, "especially the sick poor, are
entrusted to us by GOD ; and woe be to us if we torture
them while they are alive, and fling them, like dogs, into
the ground when they are dead." To help in a good work
like this (only in the country, and not in town) is another
reason why this Convent — this place where many Sisters
" come together " to live in — is building. There are other
and higher reasons too, but these are enough for now.

358 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

And now, there is something that we wish to say to all
of you in common.

influence Most people know, and Clergymen know it best of all,
that it is impossible for a set of thirty or forty men to be

workmen. ... r

put down in the middle of a country town or village,
without becoming either its curse or its blessing. Think
of the way in which they mix with the families where they
lodge ; remember how easy it is to turn an innocent and
happy household into everything that is bad, everything
that respectable people will avoid. Just imagine how
much harm oaths, and drinking, and filthy conversation,
and loose talk, will and must do to those among whom the
navvy, or mason, or carpenter, or bricklayer lodges : — with
them, on the other hand, these same men, by their honesty,
straightforwardness, obligingness, may do much good ;
much more of good even than the money they spend in
their lodgings for cooking, washing, and the like, though
that also is a great thing for the poor man.

Therefore, it cannot but make us thankful to GOD and
grateful to you, that, from all that we hear everywhere, the
more reason we have to hope that your having come here
will, even years hence, be looked upon as having been
a real blessing to East Grinstead.
"Build- One thing more, and we have done. There is a reason,

tables*116 w*1*0*1 PernaPs y°u mav not nave thought of, why men,
engaged on a building (and more especially, of course,
if like this, it is to be a religious building) should try to
be better than others. It is because our LORD JESUS
CHRIST, in His parables and sayings, refers so often to
them. Remember the parable of the man that built his
house upon a rock, and of him that built it on sand ; of
that other man who began to build and was not able to
finish : and you may find plenty more examples for your
selves. One reason, no doubt, is this: that our LORD
Himself was, as you know, a carpenter ; that houses in
that country, where there is very little stone, are, as often
as not, made of wood altogether; and that therefore a
good carpenter was also a good builder.

And now we will only congratulate you that GOD has

TO HIS OLD TUTOR 359

spared us, without a single serious accident, for a year
since we took this building in hand. And we pray for
you, as well as for ourselves, that He would still keep us
from harm while it is going on ; and that in this and
in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in Him,
you and we may glorify His holy Name, and finally, by
His mercy obtain everlasting life.

We remain, with every good wish for you all, your
very true friends,

THE SUPERIOR AND SISTERS OF S. MARGARET'S.

S. Margaret's, July i6M, 1865.

After the ceremony he wrote as follows to his old
tutor, the Rev. W. Russell (cp. pp. i, 65, 142, 276) :—

S. James' Day (July 25th), 1865.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

I know you will rejoice with us in our joys. It A "calm
was the most brilliant and uninterrupted success on Thurs- fairend-"
day. You will read of it in the Church Review, which you
ought to get with this.

The procession was nearly a quarter of a mile long,
and so very beautiful. I send you the bird's-eye view,
with the principal rooms marked.

We sat down 360 to luncheon. The collection then, or
immediately after, amounted to £7 13.
With love to all,

Ever yours affectionately,

J. M. NEALE.

Thank you so much for your letter and for its enclosure.

" O fortunatae, quarum jam moenia surgunt ! "
—let us hope in the highest spiritual sense also. '

The following lines were written to his wife for the
23rd anniversary of their wedding-day — July 27th, 1865.
He frequently (as his father before him used to do) com
memorated birthdays and other family events in this way ;
and these are the last of many verses he wrote for her :—

360 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

When summer-time is nearly past
The brightest days are oft the last ;
Oft when Autumn cometh on
No single loveliness is gone :
GOD grant that this a type may be
Touching the future as for thee.

Sermons and lectures on behalf of the Sisterhood fol
lowed each other in too rapid succession in the autumn.

• To the Rev. J. HASKOLL. Sept. iQth, 1865.

Lectures On Saturday, all well, I go to Manchester again, to

on Sister- preach at the re-opening of Huntingdon's Church : on

hoods and if, _ T , , 0 . , , , T . ,

ritual. Monday, I have a lecture on Sisterhoods at Liverpool ;
on Tuesday, a lecture on the ritual question at Manchester ;
on Wednesday, a lecture on Sisterhoods at Stafford. I
hope to come up by the night express, and spend Michael
mas Eve and the greater part of Michaelmas Day here ;
and at the second Vespers I have to preach to S. Michael's
Guild at S. Mary's, Soho, which is rather in my line, and
I like it. On October I2th, I have promised, all well, to
preach at Bradley Abbot's Harvest Home at Clapham.
So you have my engagements. . . .

The new Convent gets on gloriously. The scaffolding
is setting up. To-day the " crabs " begin to work. In
fact, Fervet opus.

Old Oxford asked me for my autumn visit for last
Monday, but with this before me I could not go. Whereof
I am sorry, for I want to impress on him the importance
of the Ritual storm.

Very good news from Belgrade.

The "very good news" refers to an English priest
being admitted to communicate in the Greek Church at
Belgrade — this happy incident, a foregleam of reunion, he
commemorated in the lines entitled, " Good News from
Servia" ("Hymns and Sequences," p. 123).

" O, sweet Rainbow, yearn'd for long and dearly,
That some day one Onely Church shall span,
Dim and broken, and incipient merely,
Yet not less God's covenant with man.

LECTURES 361

" We shall never see thy perfect beauty ;

We shall never trace thy sevenfold form ;
Others' be the triumph, ours the duty ;
Others' be the sunshine, ours the storm.

" Shew us, Lord, Thy work ; our sons Thy glory.

Yet of us, though that be all we ask,
May be said, perchance, in future's story,

'These were men that then did Union's task.'"

To His WIFE. Sept. 26th, 1865. Manchester.

. . . The lecture at Liverpool was all very well ; that
last night here was (everyone says) a brilliant success.

Last night, when Colin Lindsay, the Chairman, and I,
and some eighteen or twenty Priests, went on the platform,
the Town Hall, which holds a thousand, was crammed ; so
that, even then, some had to stand. When I saw that
huge number, I knew I should do well enough.

My voice was rather weak (from the former lecture) at
first ; but as soon as I got warm in the subject, it got
stronger and stronger. I was not the least tired after
wards.

There were a great number of artisans, who made that
tremendous noise in cheering, every now and then, that
I wonder I have not the headache to-day.

Benson was there from Horbury ; the Lowries from
York, and the like ; so, you see, I was put on my mettle ;
and the more I saw I took them with me, the better
I know I did. " And," to quote Bernard of Cluny, " I
say this in no wise arrogantly, but with all humility, and
therefore boldly."

CHAPTER XXIII

1866

LAST DAYS — ILLNESS— DEATH

O Good Pilot ! leave Thy pillow,
Calm the tempest, lay the billow !
Grant me conqueringly to wrestle,
To the safe port bring my vessel.

To the Rev. J. HASKOLL. S. Hilary (Jan. i3th), 1866.

WE have had a most dreadful snow-storm, ushered in by
thunder and lightning, and a tempest the whole day.
More snow fell that day here than on any one day within
the memory of man. The whole of the north side of our
scaffold poles, though double braced, were torn out of the
ground ; and the east poles were so distressed that they
will have to be taken down. This disaster will cost us £20.
Providentially it happened at night. The best trees in our
garden are destroyed by the weight of snow.

Lectures Next week will, all well, be a busy one. On Monday

andser- j am to gO to Liverpool, dining with your friend Zwil-

mons for . 1

the Sister- chenbart, who has a party to meet me. At eight, lecture
hood. on Hymnology. My expenses are paid, and I have £$
for S. Margaret's. Tuesday a sermon to the Sisters of
S. Martin's : to Wigan to see our Sister's House ; back to
Liverpool, preach at S. James the Less for S. Margaret's.
Wednesday to Tarporley, in Cheshire, where Cooper, a
good Brighton friend of ours just come to the living, is
restoring his church. Thursday to Manchester, to put a
little backbone into Huntington, and keep up Sedgewick.

LAST DA YS 363

Friday to Leicester, to see six Priests and two Doctors,
who want a branch there. I shall, all well, be at Dr.
Frere's, the leading medical man. And Saturday home.
You must say, " Et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super
nos : et opus manuum nostrarum dirige."

This programme of strenuous increasing work was
almost in every detail carried out. Little wonder that
a chill taken in that bitter weather took violent hold of his
already overtaxed body. But the mind was as keen and
untired as ever, and plans for fresh work were formed, work
which was never carried out.

First Thursday in Lent (Feb. iSth), 1866.

MY DEAR HASKOLL,

I have been meaning to write, but nine days Beginning
ago I had one of my attacks, the worst I have had yet, of last
and, what's more, I don't seem able to get over it. Sister !
E. sat up with me one night.

I was very pleased to find your letter at Zwilchenbart's.
They were very kind. That night, a very prosperous
lecture on hymnology. Next day, Tuesday, I spoke to the
two sets of Liverpool Sisters, collected in one, at S.
Martin's : in the afternoon, went over to Wigan, to make
final arrangements with Bridgeman about our Sisters ;
came back and preached for S. Margaret's at S. James the
Less ; afterwards, in walking home with Cecil Wray, we
got mobbed. " Who murdered Miss Scobell ? " etc., etc.
The police acted very speedily and vigorously. Wednes
day. I was lionized over the Docks, and at night came
to Chester. Thursday, I went on to Tarporley, where
Cooper, once Curate at S. Paul's [Brighton], and a very
good man, has just got the Rectory. Here I was in the
midst of the very worst district of cattle plague : the dead
and sick creatures were a most pitiful sight. At night, on
to Manchester, where I stayed one day, " confirming the
brethren." And on Saturday, home.

Next came our Retreat. Randall of Lavington gave it.
I knew he would do well : but some of the Meditations

364 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

were the most eloquent things I ever heard. Now we have,
all well, before us our Children's Retreat, the first ever
given in the English Church. They are not more than
fifteen years old in Rome, and are said to have done
wonders. On Tuesday, March 6th, begins, all well, our
Associates' Retreat, which I hope to have.

Our Sisters are nearly settled in " All Saints' Mission,"
Wigan.

The late storms have done us sad harm. Some three
weeks ago, the eastern cross of our chapel was snapped off
and smashed : next, undermined by the rain, part of our
garden fell into the road, and had to be built up : and last
Sunday afternoon, in that tremendous storm, at seven
minutes past four, our largest elm, the glory of all the
country side, was snapped and torn off, about four feet from
the ground. " It fell : and great was the fall of it"

I think, about the Ritual Question, there is now no
great danger. The tone of Stanley's leading article in the
Times is the best for us. He dined, I am told, not long ago,
with London (Tait) (I presume the colour of the Church he
had been to was green). " Ah ! " he said, " if you try to
turn those green fellows out of the Church, you will bring
it down about your ears." All this is no reason why we
are not to be ready to fight (or to fight) : but every reason
for encouragement. You saw my article in the Church
Times about the numbers of the Ritualists.

After this visit to his friend Mr. Cooper at Tarporley
the terrible sight of the sick and dying cattle drew from
him the hymn for time of Cattle Plague, which was pub
lished as a leaflet by the S.P.C.K., and was in one of the
editions of Hymns Ancient and Modern. A tune was
composed for it by the Rev. Thomas Helmore, his co
adjutor in the " Carols " and the " Hymnal Noted." The
hymn became very popular at once, but is now hardly
known, because mercifully for so many years it has not
been needed. It is here inserted.

All Creation groans and travails : Thou, O GOD, shalt hear its groan ;
For of man and all creation Thou alike art LORD alone.

LAST DA YS 365

Pity then Thy guiltless creatures, who, not less, man's suffering

share :
For our sins it is they perish : let them profit by our prayer.

Cast Thine eye of love and mercy on the misery of the land :

Say to the destroying Angel, " 'Tis enough : stay now Thine hand."

In our homesteads, in our valleys, through our pasture lands give

peace ;
Through the Gosh en of Thine Israel bid the grievous murrain cease.

But with deeper, tenderer pity, call to mind, O SON of GOD,
Those in Thine own Image fashion'd : ransom'd with Thy precious
Blood.

Hear and grant the supplications, like a cloud of incense, borne
Up toward Thy Seat of Mercy, from Thy people's hearts forlorn :

For the widow, for the orphan, for the helpless, hopeless poor :
Helpless, hopeless, if Thou spare not of their basket and their store.

So, while these her earnest accents day by day Thy Church repeats,
" That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our
streets :

" That our oxen, strong to labour, may not know nor fear decay :
That there be no more complaining, and the plague have passed
away."

And at last, to all Thy servants, when earth's troubles shall be o'er,
Threefold Godhead, give a portion with Thyself for evermore.
Amen.

The attack mentioned by him on Feb. I5th was the
"beginning of the end," for alarming symptoms appeared
on March ist, and although at times a temporary amend
ment gave ground for hope, it became gradually evident
that there would never be a complete restoration to health.
In the end of June he went to Brighton for a time, where
he could have the advantage of his homoeopathic doctor
close at hand. The change seemed to bring a slight
improvement, but it was not of long duration, and he
returned to Sackville College in July to die in his own
home.

A few days after being taken with his last illness, one
of the last letters written with his own hand was to a daughter
at school.

366 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

March 6th, 1866.

MY DEAREST PET,

One line in my very shaky hand in answer to
your note to Mama.

Yes, Pet ; I know that I am dangerously ill, but you
don't know how urgently GOD'S good people are praying
for me day and night, or you would take great comfort ; and
especially how many Celebrations are being offered for me.
But, thank GOD, I am going on as well as can be
expected — so seldom in great pain. If I get worse — you
shall hear at once.

GOD bless you always,

Ever your own loving Father,

J. M. NEALE.

His Here it will be well to give his opinion on the much-

n vexed question of Fasting Communion, because it was
during his last illness that he was approached on the
subject " with the object of ascertaining his ripened view,"
and leave to publish it was given. It is taken from Bishop
Kingdon's book on " Fasting Communion," p. 349.

" One of his oldest friends visited him shortly before his
death, and among other questions of the day discussed
with him the matter of obligatory Fasting Communion, a
subject which was then attracting notice. After some con
versation, he expressed his full agreement with his friend,
that it was NOT binding on persons living in the world
within our com munion, and that it would be harmful to try
to enforce it ; but at the same time, he thought it should
be held to bind those who had specially devoted them
selves to a more devout life, sisters of mercy, and others
who followed a religious profession ; that is, that it should
be made a rule of special devotion. He had specially
present to his mind the danger of attempting to enforce
a rule which in England had been proved to make Com
munions less frequent than the early Church desired.
With this deliberate decision of a master in Israel most
(it is hoped) will agree." It will be noted that it is in
harmony with the teaching of another " master in Israel "
—Dr. Pusey.1

1 See a letter of Dr. Pusey's in "Life of Bishop Durnford,'
p. 219.

LAST DAYS 367

Though reluctant to speak from her personal experi
ence, the editor feels it right to add that she never
heard her father teach or suggest fasting before re
ception, that his elder children were accustomed to com
municate at the parish Church, where the celebration was
late, and that had he considered fasting obligatory they
would, no doubt, have communicated habitually, — as they
did occasionally, — at S. Margaret's, at an hour when fasting
was practicable.

After an operation, which gave slight relief for a time,
Dr. Neale wrote the following letter to the Sisters of
S. Margaret's : —

MY OWN DEAR SISTERS,

I have no words to express how thankful I felt
to GOD, and how grateful to you, when I heard what you
intended to do for me last night. Often I thought of you,
for I could not sleep. You know that I have nothing to
offer you in return but my poor prayers : and scarcely even
those to-day, when I feel so very weak. You know not how
often I think of that verse, Ps. xlii. 4 (" Now when I think
thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself ; for I went with
the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of
GOD "). I knew well that after the operation yesterday, for
which I cannot be thankful enough, to-day must be one of
utter depression. Will you say one prayer that I may be
comforted in this ?

GOD bless you always, my own dear Sisters, and give
you a happy Festival.

Ever your very loving Father,

J. M. N.

His mind was active to the last, and some of his most His last
beautiful poems were dictated from his sick-bed. Amongst book-
these are "Prostrate fell the Lord of all things," "The
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus," " No Nightingales," all pub
lished in " Sequences and Hymns," which was in the press
at the time of his death : it also contains an elegy on John
Keble, who predeceased him by about four months.

In the preface to this little book, the very last thing
written or dictated by him, he says —

368 LETTERS OF JOHN MASON NEALE

" It had been long my wish, especially when I have had
occasion to notice the great favour which God has bestowed
on my translations from Mediaeval Hymnology, to collect
some of my own Hymns and Sequences as a poor little
offering to the Great Treasury.

" Laid aside, in Spring last, from all active work by a
severe and dangerous illness, the wish was more strongly
impressed on my mind, and I felt that no kind of composi
tion could be more suitable for one who might soon be
called to have done with earthly composition for ever."

It is dated " In the Octave of S. James " — a touching
sign that he still felt as he had often said — " S. James'-tide,
you know, has always been a fortunate time for me," and
it was but ten days later, before dawn on the Feast of the
Transfiguration, that he entered into rest.

During the last few days those of us who were gathered
round his death-bed (how few of us are left now !) remember
the one word repeated again and again by him as he sank
into unconsciousness — Come — Come. One of his children,
who has long ago joined her Father, repeated from time to
time a verse, a comforting " Come," so as perhaps to sug
gest the thought he was trying to express : " Ho, every one
that thirsteth, Come ye to the waters . . . yea, Come " ;
" Come unto Me, all ye that labour, . . . and I will give you
rest." And as the Come — Come — was still repeated with
strange persistency and energy, we thought of many of his
own sermons ; " And it was now dark, and Jesus was not
yet Come."—" Lord, if it be Thou, bid me to Come."—" He
said Come." — And of the " Comes " in the Revelation —
and then we felt and knew that it was with the Spirit and
the Bride and the Apostle that he was saying — Come : —
and about the fourth watch of the night, He cometh —

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.

The vessel past the foam ;
The weary soldier's sleep ;
The traveller now gone home ;
Who would not shame to weep ?

Who rest, this world's sea past ;
Who sleep, life's battle borne ;
Who see their GOD at last ;
Who would not shame to mourn ,

2 B

APPENDIX

Two Appreciations of John Mason Neale, written after
his death, Aiigiist 6th, 1866

" HE died worn out with incessant work at the early age of forty- From the
eight, leaving behind him the reputation of being one of the most Ecclesi°-
learned theologians, one of the most erudite scholars, one of the
best linguists, one of the sweetest hymnodists, and perhaps the
foremost liturgicist of his time. The versatility of his powers was
astonishing ; and it may be doubted if his capacity and his fond
ness for hard intellectual labour was ever exceeded. Gifted with
an extraordinarily retentive memory, an indefatigable student,
and trained from early childhood in the habit of fluent and
graceful composition, he became one of the most voluminous as
well as accomplished writers of his generation. Indeed, there is
scarcely any branch of literature in which he did not distinguish
himself, while in some he has left behind him no rival and no
successor." — Ecdesiologist, xxviii. p. 265.

II.

" It has been said, and with great truth, and in a quarter in From the
which there is but small sympathy for our principles and labours, Christian
that Mr. Neale was one of the most remarkable men the Church femem~

orancer.

of England has produced. His mind was rather of the East than
of the West. It was redundant, flowing, large, subtle, and if
deficient in any province, it was in that of logic. His was not
a political mind ; he failed in those qualities in which has been
the especial success of the West ... an idealist never knows
when he is beaten, and therefore never is beaten. . . . After all,
there are certain points on which Mr. Neale concentrated his

372 APPENDIX

powers, and in which he has succeeded. In conjunction with
others he was the first to attempt a revival of Church architecture ;
he was personally and singly the first to attempt a revival of
English Hymnody ; he was the first of the present generation to
call attention to the Eastern Church ; he was the first to revive
the notion of Sisterhoods. Now it is past doubt, even by the
confession of foes, that these are four points absolutely won and
incorporated into the current policy of the Church of England ;
not all equally, but all substantially. . . . We ought to place on
record his slowness to take offence, his patience of contradiction,
his easy generosity of mind. He was a man personally of large
sympathies and few passions." — Editor of Christian Remem
brancer, 1 ii . pp. 51 0-5 1 2.

INDEX

"A LITEL TALE," 60

Aberdeen, branch of Sisterhood, 341,

343

Absolution, 144
Advice, letters of, 241-249, 280,

345, 346, 347, 349, 35 1
Aesthetics, Influence of, 70, 75
" Agnes de Tracy," 49
Alleluiatic Sequence, 154, 320
Altar, bowing to, 31
Andrewes, Bishop, 65, 79, 87, 90
Antiphonal, 158
Antigua, Bishop of, 56
Appeal to the East, 161, 162
Arches, Court of, suit in, 106
Architecture, symbolism of, 9, 61

, Eastern and Western, 64

Articles in magazines, 86, 100, 120,
155, 172, 173, 177, 179, 184, 195,
218, 223, 226, 238, 253, 269, 270,
281, 283, 301, 302, 309, 331, 335,
336, 34i

Articles, Thirty-Nine, 144, 184
Ash, House of Refuge, 341, 342
Association, Eastern, 344
Athanasius, Saint, 82
Austria, tour in, 321

, Emperor of, 331

"Ay ton Priory," 51, 52

"BALLADS for Manufacturers," 64,

Baptism, 38, 39, 42
Baptismal regeneration, 64, 72
Baptists, 42, 43
Barnabas, Saint, Epistle of, 20
Batalha, 218
Beguinage, 194

Belgium, tour in, 250-254

Bennett, Rev. H., 88

Bidding Prayer, 36

Boat Race, University, 350

Bodley, G., 271

Bollandists, visit to, 193

Books —

" Agnes de Tracy," 49

" Ayton Priory," 51, 52

" Ballads for Manufacturers," 64

" Commentary on the Psalms," 302

" Church Difficulties, Lectures on,"

301

" Daughters of Pola," 308
"Day -Hours of .the Church of

England," 302
"Deeds of Faith," 128
"Dalmatia, Notes on," 326, 331,

334

" Dores de Gualdim," 308
" Duchenier," 107
"Durandus," 49, 70, 72
" Egyptian Wanderers," 300
" English Ecclesiology, Handbook

of," 97

" Essays on Liturgiology," 336
" Evenings at Sackville College,"

118

" Exiles of the Cebenna," 287
"Farm of Aptonga," 277
" Followers of the Lord," 148
" Greek Hymns," 338
" Hierologus," 70, 148
" History of England for Children,"

74,80
" History of the Holy Eastern

Church," 64, 69, 71, 296, 301
" History of the Jansenist Church

374

INDEX

in Holland," 201, 227, 238, 279,
296, 300, 301, 302

" Hymnal Noted," 64, 69, 71, 296,
301

" Hymns and Songs," 49

" Hymns for Children," 46, 48

« Larache," 308

" Lazar House of Leros, The," 309

" Lily of Tiflis," 301, 309, 311

"Lucia's Marriage," 308

" Mediaeval Hymns and Sequen
ces," 174

"Mediaeval Sermons," 238, 268,
270, 276, 279

"Mirror of Faith, The," 52, 74

"Moral Concordances of S. An
thony of Padua," 230

*' Poynings," 74

"Quay of the Dioscuri," 308

"Readings for the Aged," 197, 271

" Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix,"
332, 338

" Sea Tigers, The," 308

" Sequences and Hymns," 231,
232, 360, 367

"Sermons for Children," 297

"Shepperton Manor," 52, 74, 76,

77, 79

"•Stories of the Crusades," loo
** Sunday Afternoons at an

Orphanage," 297
"Tales of the Apostles' Creed,"

228

" Theodora Phranza," 232, 300
" Torry, Bishop, Life of," 237, 254,

276
" Triumphs of the Cross," 74, 97,

128

" Unseen World, The," 219
"Virgin Saints," 74, 92
"Voices from the East," 329
Books recommended for children,

105

Boyce, Rev. E. J.,26, 59, 60, 91-93,
94

, letter of, 12-18

Brechin, A. P. Forbes, Bishop of,
120, 151, 162, 164, 1 88, 206, 207,
208, 220, 237, 246, 256, 257, 287,
299

Breviaries, 99, 212, 332
Bull, Bishop, 89
Burntisland, 255
Butterfield, 131

CALENDAR, on Sarum principles,

189
Cambridge Camden Society, 50, 57,

58,84

, Founding of, 12-18

Carols, 224, 269, 281

in United States, 282

Catechism, Church, 197

Cathedral abuses, 196

Celibacy of Clergy, 62

Challis, Professor, 6

Chair of S. Peter, 69

Chambers, Rev. J. D., Hymns of,

192, 195, 196
Children, dealings with, 307, 337,

338, 339

— his, letters to, 105, 147, 204,

208-217, 304, 313

— , stories of, 128, 160, 178, 231,

338
Choir-boy, service for admission of,

141, 142
Church tours in —

Belgium, 250-254

Brittany, 303

Dalmatia, 311-326

Denmark, 189-192

France, and south of, 287 ; and
Switzerland, 332, 333

Holland, 227-230

Isle of Man and Orkney, 109, no

Scotland, 255-260

Somerset, 29, 34, 6l

Spain and Portugal, 206-219
Churches, number seen, 333
"Churchwardens, Hints to," 30
Christian Doctrine, Brothers of, 250,

253. 295

Christian Remembrancer^ 70, I2O,

123, 126-7, l62» J79> J82, 222,

226, 238, 281, 283, 301-2, 312,

331, 335. 341-2
Clairvoyance, 139, 140, 141
Clement, S., Epistle of, 20
Clewer Sisterhood, 264, 265, 345

INDEX

375

College, S. Augustine's, Canterbury,

108

Combe, Bourton, 59
Confession, 87, 153, 191, 242, 243

, directions for, 247-249

Confirmation, 163, 349
Convocation, 226
Convent of Sta. Clara, 55
Cooper, Canon, 238, 362, 363
Corpus Christi, procession, 292-295
Crawley, 35 seq.
Crimean war, 225, 231
Criticism, a stimulus, 91
Crosses, 48, 168
Cruden parsonage, 259
Crusaders' tombs, 60
Cyril Lucar, 74, 75, 109
Cyril, S., 137, 197-200, 219

DAILY Services, 31, 44, 107, 197

Dalmatia, tour in, 311-326

• "Notes on," 316, 318-321, 322,

331, 334
Daniel, Prince, of Montenegro, 324,

326

Deceased wife's sister, 153
Decree Urbi et Orbi, 230, 253
De la Warr, Lord, Patron of Sack-

ville College, 95, 116, 117, 166, 237

song, 128, 129

Denison, G. A., 223, 230

, case of, 279

Denmark, tour in, 189-192

Derby, Lord, 185

Dickinson, F. H., 93, 97, 182

Direction, 301

Disturbances, 112, 113, 164-170,237,

273, 275, 276

Divorce Bill, petition against, 298
Dogs, love of, 353
Donatists, 73, 80, 89
Downing College, chaplain to, 18-21
Dublin Review ', 117
" Duchenier," 107
"Durandus," 49, 70, 72

EAST GRINSTEAD, letter to inhabi
tants of, 164

Eastward position, 348, 349
Ecclesiastic, 104

Ecclesiastical History, 64
Ecclesiology, Oriental, 114, 115
Ecclesiologist, 16, 88, 93, 100, 104
Ecclesiological Society, late C.C.S.,

Essays, 157, 158, 164, 238, 313, 336
Essays and Reviews, 330
Exeter, Bishop of, 81, 182

FA, Padre, 67, 72

Farnham, 2, 3

Fasting Communion, 366

Filioque clause, 131, 162, 164, 344

Forbes, Rev. G., 255, 256

Forbes, A. P. See Brechin

France, Church, condition of, 109

, tours in, 287, 303, 332

Free Church, 132
Free trade, 185
Froude's " Remains," 19
Funchal, 49
Funeral reform, 167, 200

GALLICANS, 301, 302

Gallicanism, 69, 71, 283

George Herbert, 20

Gilbert, Bishop, 115-118, 168, 274,

277, 328
Glassites, 258
Glastonbury, 28, 29

, S. Joseph's Chapel, 29

Gobat, Bishop, 221

protest, 222, 223

Good, John Mason, M.D., 45

, " Historical Outline," and other

books, 285, 286
Goodwin, Harvey, 8, 14
Gorham judgment, 130
, protest against, 132-136,

138

Grande Chartreuse, visit to the, 118

119, 1 20, 296

Gream, Mother Ann, 234, 272
Gregorian hymns, 154, 156, 162
Guardian, letter to, 136, 138

HAGIOLOGY, 74
Hagioscopes, 98
Hare, Archdeacon, 24, 139, 143, 145

376

INDEX

Haskoll, Rev. Joseph, 48, 149, 150,

340, 354, 36°

Hayle, — (ecclesiologist), 98
Helmore, Rev. Thomas, 176, 178,

193, I95> 364
Hemans, Mrs., 21
Herbert, George, 20

, Mrs. Sidney, 235, 237

Hierarchy, Roman, 157, 159

" Hierologus," 70, 148

" History of England for Children,"

74
" of Holy Eastern Church," 64,

69, 71, 336

Holland, tour in, 227-230
Homoeopathy, 201, 260-264
Hook, Dr., 26

Hope, Beresford, 89, 93, 97, 184, 185
Hymn, a baptismal, 297

— in time of cattle plague, 364

" Hymnal Noted," 159, 160, 163,
171, 172-174, 192, 195, 196, 224,
283

, commentary on, 225

Hymnology, 125, 171, 172

" Hymns and Songs," 49

Hymns, article on, 120

dislike of, 22, 45

, English, 58, 124, 125, 126, 127,

154, 155, 156
" for Children," 46, 48

— "Ancient and Modern," 175
-"Greek," 338, 341

"Mediaeval," 181, 192

ICONS, 311, 312
Illness, 40, 365

of son, 20 1

Incunabula, 318, 322
Inhibition, Bishop of Chichester's,
99, 115-118, 244-246

, removal of, 328

, Bishop of London's, 197

, withdrawn, 202

Intercession of S. Mary, 93
Invocation of Saints, 81
Isle of Man, tour in, 109

JACKSON'S Te Dcum, 24
Jansenism, 182, 184

"Jansenist Church, History of." See.

Books

Jansenist service, 228, 229
Jenner, Canon H. L., 206, 207, 210
Jerusalem, Bishopric of, 87
Jesuits, loo, 182
Jowett, Professor, 337

KEBLE, Rev. John, 48, 177, 221,

222, 367
King, Rev. Bryan, 310

" LACHRYMA CHRISTI," 7, 8

Land's End, 47

Languages, 327, 331

La Sallette, 231, 333

Lectures, 187, 188, 231, 360, 361,

362, 363

Le Geyt, Rev. C., 303
Letter-writing, 6, 19, 339
Lewes riot, 299, 300
Lindsay, Colin, 361
Littledale, Dr. R. F., 298, 348
Liturgies, collection of, 329

, Gallican, 225

, Oriental, 104, 106

, Staro-Viertze, 326

Liturgical quotation, 313
Lives of Saints, 60
Lowe, Rev. R. T., 50
Luther, Martin, 20
Lychnoscopes, 98, 332

MABERLEY, Rev. H, 145, 157, 234
Macarius, Archimandrite, 131
Madeira, first visit, 49

, Christmas in, 67

, Confirmation, 56

— , Ecclesiology of, 14, 51, 58

— , Holy Week and Easter, 57, 83

, Passion Sunday services, 53

, Second and third visits, 63, 65,

Manning, Archdeacon, 124, 145
Marty n, Rev. H., 8
Mass, musical, 107
Mechanics' Institute, 205
Mill, Dr., 72, 73, 89, 90, 131, 152,

183, 184, 198, 199, 222
" Mirror of Faith," 52, 74
Missals, 194

INDEX

377

Montalembert, Count de, 52, 54, 63,

64, 68, 71, 72

Montenegro, visit to, 324-326
" Monumental brasses," 17
Morning Chronicle, 178, 179, 1 8 1,

185, 205

Motto, Carthusian, 118
Mouravieff, 75, 121, 163

NEALE, Rev. Cornelius, i, 297, 359
Neale, Mrs, Cornelius, I, 73, 193, 201
Neale, John Mason, first schools,

I, 2

at Observatory, Cambridge, 6

— , scholarship at Trinity, 6
— , early attachment, 6

, co-founder C.C.S., 12-18

— , first Church tour, 14. See also
Church Tours

, tutor and chaplain at Downing

College, 21

, ordained deacon, parochial

work, 21

goes to Crawley, 35

— , health breaks down, 40
— , marriage, 45

— goes to Penzance, 45

— Madeira, 49

— stay in Somersetshire, 57
— , second visit to Madeira, 63

, first child born, 74

— , Christmas at Reigate, 95

, son born, 95

is made Warden of Sackville

College, 95

- inhibited by Bishop of Chi-
chester, 99

, disturbances at Sackville Col
lege, 112

refuses Deanery of Perth, 149

begins " Hymnal Noted," 159

, engagement with Morning

Chronicle, 179
— , visit to Bollandists, 193
— inhibited by Bishop of London,
197
— , inhibition withdrawn, 202

, serious illness of son, 201

— leads protest against Bishop
Gobat, 221

Neale, John Mason, founds Sister
hood, 233

, more disturbances, 273

, Lewes riots, 299

, Bishop of Chichester removes

inhibition, 328

, preaching tours, 343

, first stone of S. Margaret's laid,

354

, lectures for Sisterhood, 360-363

, illness and last days, 363

, his last book, 367

, his death, 368

Neale, Mrs. J. M., 45, 102, 103, 112,
170, 201, 203, 359

, , letter from, 275

Neale, Elizabeth, 283, 284

Neale, Cornelius Vincent, 95, 201,
204, 282

Newland, Dr., 184, 185

, , letter from, 199

Newman, J. H., 19, 75-80, 84, 85, 87

, quotations from, 12, 70

, doctrine of development, 80, 88,

Non-juring secession, 71, 81, 130

Novels, views on, 74, 271, 272

OFFICES, Scotch, 220, 221

, Supplemental, 189

Oldknow, Dr., 200, 207, 213, 216,

219, 324
Orkney, proposed mission to, 120,

121

, tour in, no

Orphanage, 283, 285, 297
Otter, Archdeacon, 239, 267, 298
Oxford (S. Wilberforce), Bishop of,

199, 344

, visits to, 277, 360

Tracts, 13, 19

PALEY, F. A., 14, 16, 92

Pamphlets, 135, 153, 187

Panliturgicon, 329, 330

Papal theory, 71

Parish priests, 92

Perth, Deanery of, 149-151

Peterhead, 260

Pews, fight against, 24, 38, 39, 41, 46

378

INDEX

" Pews, History of," 18

— , stories of, 33, 46
Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow,

121, 163, 326, 327
Phrenologist, opinion of, 10, II
"Pickwick," publication of, 13, 274
Pope, flight from Rome, 1 14
Popoff, Basil, book of, edited, 336

, Rev. Eugene, 122, 123

Portugal, tours in, 212-216, 218
Portuguese, learning, 50, 51

— priests, 50
"Poynings," 74
Prayer-book, revision of, 270
Preaching tours, 343
Priest's wife, position of, 97
Protestantisms, 24, 33, 37

, an Ordination, 25, 26

Protestant Association, Brighton,

276, 278

Pugin, H. W., 72
Pusey, Dr., 19, 70, 75, 84, 85, 221,

222, 366
Puseyism, 82, 283

QUANTOCKS, 33

RANDALL, Rev. R. E., 363
Regeneration, 26, 130, 134, 135
Reigate, 94

Religious orders and houses —
English, 302, 337
Foreign —

Beguinage, 194

Brothers of Compassion, 323

Marist, 291

Recolletines, 291

Sisters of Charity, 295

Sceurs Bleues, 288, 289

Ursulines, 323

Retreats, 342, 345, 363, 364
Reunion, 344
Rio, 72

Ritual, fight for, 355, 364
Romanism, mediaeval and modern, 90
Romanists, 41
" Romanizers," 92
Russia, appreciation in, 326, 331
, invitations from, 335

Russia, proposed visit to, 299
Russell, Rev. W., i, 65, 142, 143,
276, 328, 359

SACKVILLE COLLEGE, goes to, 95

, Christmas at, 101, 102, 103, 306

, inmates of, 101-103, 2O3

— , chapel, restoration of, 131
S. Agnes' i School, beginning of, 275,

297, 341, 342, 344, 353
S. Augustine's, Canterbury, 181
S . Francis de Sales, 72
S. George's-in-the-East, riots, 310
S. James' Day, 180, 368
S. Margaret's, foundation of, 233-236

— , building of, 344, 354-359
Sapphics, 126
Saturday Review, 330, 337
Scenery, love of, 66, 67, 73, 320, 321,

323

Schism, 77, 79, 91
Schools, sent to, 1-6

, article on, 100, 103

Scotch Church, 142, 145, 151

Scotch Prayer-book, 151

Seatonians, 196, 279

Secession, 84-89, 104, 142, 143

Selwyn, Bishop, 17

Sequences, 189, 194, 213, 224, 269,

303, 304, 3M, 332

" Sequences and Hymns." See Books
Sermons, criticism of, 22

, "Mediaeval." See Books

"to Children," 297

, writing of, 23, 265

Shepperton, life at, i, 66

" Shepperton Manor," 52, 74. See

Books

Shilleto, Professor, 6
Simeon, Rev. C., death of, 6, 7, 8
Sisterhood, 233, 239, 240, 264, 268,

270, 271, 272, 274, 277, 278, 280,

284, 285, 341, 342
Sisters, training of, 241, 242

— , work of, 334, 343, 345
Son, birth of, 95 ; illness of, 201, 202
Spain, tour in, 206-216
Stanley, Dean, 364
Stokes. J. F.; 15, 16, 48, 84, 86-88

INDEX

379

Stories, 58, 118, 148, 287, 300, 303.
See Books

of the supernatural, 75

Strasburg Cathedral, 315

Strathallan, Lord, 258

Styria, scenery in, 323

Sunday school, teaching in, 4, 5, 38,

Suspension, 244-246
Symbolism, 320
Synod of Priests, 132
of Scotch Bishops, 188

TABLE-TURNING, 219

Thorpe, Archdeacon, 15, 44, 152

"Tract 90," 24

Translating, difficulties of, 173, 177

Translations of his books, 311, 334

Transubstantiation, 121-123, 198,

199, 200

Trevelyan, Rev. — , visit to, 29-32, 33
Trinity College, obtains scholarship,

6
Turkey, 204, 231, 232

ULTRAMONTANISM, 72

Uniat Communion, 162 ; liturgy, 159

Union, English Church, 152, 153

— , Sussex and Kent, 145, 150, 152

, hopes of, 51, 55, 327, 360, 361

. See Reunion

Utrecht, Archbishop of, 227, 229,

230
, visit to, 227, 302

Utrecht, history of. See Jansenism

VAN EYCK, Adoration of the Lamb,
228

Verses, dog-latin, 206, 207

, early, 4

, quotations from, 12, 19, 35, 45,

63> 76, 95. "I, II2> !30, 149. I7i»
187, 206, 233, 250, 266, 287, 308,
328, 340, 354, 360, 361, 362, 364,

369

Vestments, 94, 310
"Vineyard" view, 88, 89, 143
"Virgin saints," 74, 92
Vulne theory, 98

WALES, tour in, 146, 147
Watts, Dr., hymns of, 45, 46
Webb, Rev. B., 14, 15, 16, 96
, letters from, 77, 78, 81, 87,

124, 126
Webster, Elizabeth, 264, 265, 276

, Richard (Lord Alverstone), 276

, Thomas, Rev., 12

— , Thomas, Q.C., 273
Wells, visit to palace, 27
Weston-in-Gordano church, 59
Wheeler, Rev. — , 74
Williams, George, 161, 326
Wiseman, Cardinal, 87, 90
Workmen, letter to, 355~359

YOUNG, J. G., 14; secretary to
C.C.S., 16

THE END

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLKS-

BX NEALE

5199 LETTERS OF JOHN

.IWi MASON NEALE

A83

1910 111656

4*3

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